A majority of consumers (60%) say they have been spending less at small businesses during the pandemic, and more at big box stores and online giants (59%), according to a new public opinion poll conducted by Maru/Matchbox on behalf of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).
Despite the findings, almost nine in 10 Canadians (87%) indicated they wish they could do more to support small businesses in their community.
“With reopening finally a reality in most parts of the country, we now have a big opportunity to show small business the love and support they desperately need,” said Laura Jones, executive vice president at CFIB.
The latest data on CFIB’s Small Business Recovery Dashboard shows that: 73% are fully open (compared to 58% two weeks ago), 50% are fully staffed (compared to 42% two weeks ago) and 39% are making normal sales (compared to 34% two weeks ago).
“Small businesses are relieved that the worst of the COVID storm seems to be behind us, but for many of them the clean-up, including dealing with piles of debt, is daunting and exhausting in a new way,” said Jones.
To encourage Canadians to support small business, CFIB said it is bringing back its #SmallBusinessEveryDay contest from last year, with six times the prize money (almost $300,000) for consumers and business owners.
To enter, consumers can go to SmallBusinessEveryDay.ca and send a thank you message to a small business. The message gets relayed to the business and the consumer is entered to win a cash prize of $2,000 plus gift cards from Scotiabank, eBay, Mastercard and Dairy Queen.
The business nominated by the winning consumer will receive $10,000 from Microban24, plus the gift cards. In addition to the weekly cash prize of $10,000, the company is also offering bonus cash prizes to help small businesses reopen safely. One-hundred bonus prizes of $2,400 will be drawn among all nominated businesses at the end of the contest.
“This gives consumers an easy way to say thank you and support small businesses with the added bonus of possibly winning some money to shop local,” said Jones.
