Small businesses recovery has taken a step back as COVID-19 cases increase, according to the latest results from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB)’s #SmallBusinessEveryDay Dashboard:
- 66% of businesses are fully open (compared to 72% two weeks ago)
- 42% are fully staffed (compared to 48% two weeks ago)
- 28% are making normal sales (compared to 30% two weeks ago)
“It is concerning to see small business recovery take a step back just as we enter the holiday shopping season,” said Corinne Pohlmann, senior vice president of national affairs at CFIB. “Many businesses rely on the next several weeks to earn a significant proportion of their revenues. This year, that will be especially critical, as small businesses have suffered extensive losses.”
The CFIB said in a release that with new restrictions popping up in different regions of the country, only 11% of hospitality businesses (such as restaurants and hotels) and 9% of arts and recreation businesses (such as gyms and venues) are at normal sales levels for this time of year. CFIB said it is urging consumers to choose local, independent businesses every time they can and make the extra effort to find them online.
To encourage consumers to support their local businesses, CFIB recently launched the Big Thank You contest as part of #SmallBusinessEveryDay. Consumers can send a thank you message to their favourite business at smallbusinesseveryday.ca, which enters both the consumer and the nominated business into weekly draws.
The first winner of the contest is Stephanie Audet of Laval, Que., who nominated Signé Marie soaps. Stephanie and Signé Marie soaps each win a Big Thank You box containing a cash prize and goods from small businesses across the country. The contest is sponsored by eBay Canada, Scotiabank and Mastercard.
“Shopping small is its own reward: you get the satisfaction of supporting the local economy, keeping good jobs in the community and finding great services and products,” said Pohlmann. “I would encourage all Canadians to nominate their favourite small business and in doing so, we will reward one small business supporter every week until November 29th.”
The #SmallBusinessEveryDay campaign encourages local shopping, promotes initiatives to support small business and provides posters and other tools for businesses to use. It is supported by Scotiabank, Chase Merchant Services, eBay Canada, Intuit Canada and Interac Corp.
