Almost half of Canadians know a business that has closed permanently due to COVID-19, 8 out of 10 say they wish they could do more
Winnipeg, June 25, 2020 – With seven out of ten business owners worried that customers won’t come back and many still struggling to pay bills, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB)’s new #SmallBusinessEveryDay campaign is designed to amplify actions to support local businesses.
The campaign includes a small business recovery dashboard which will be updated weekly. Currently, the dashboard shows about half of businesses across Canada are fully open, but only one in three are at normal staffing levels and one in five are making normal sales. Three-quarters of consumers report not spending as much overall as they did pre-COVID-19, yet almost half report spending more at larger retailers, many of whom were allowed to stay open when the pandemic hit.
“It’s critical to our neighbourhoods and, more generally, to Canada’s economic recovery that we move the needle on small business recovery and help businesses who have been starved of sales survive,” said Laura Jones, executive vice-president at CFIB.
At SmallBusinessEveryDay.ca consumers will find a series of doable challenges like walking to a local business and buying a treat for a neighbor. The website will also promote the many other Canadian campaigns that have been launched to support local businesses and has tools for business owners such as free posters they can use to thank customers for doing their part.
“There is a parade of fantastic initiatives across Canada (like the buylocal.ly directory and many others) to help businesses recover from the unprecedented financial and emotional stress left in the wake of COVID-19 shutdowns. Our landing page is a one-stop shop for everyone to find out about all the great floats in the parade. #SmallBusinessEveryDay reminds us that small actions like buying a cupcake or a cup of coffee, finding a local business or recommending a business to others on social media can make a big difference to small business survival,” added Jonathan Alward, CFIB’s director, prairie region.
“We know over 60 per cent of Manitoba small businesses are now fully open, but we also know less than a quarter are making their usual sales for this time of year. Now more than ever local businesses need our support,” noted Alward. “Our campaign amplifies the importance of small businesses to our local communities. Shopping local will be critically important to help small businesses fully recover in the weeks ahead.”
The #SmallBusinessEveryDay campaign is an extension of CFIB’s annual Small Business Saturday (during Small Business Week in October) and will run from now until the end of the year. The campaign is supported by Scotiabank, Chase Merchant Services, eBay Canada, Facebook, and Interac Corp.
To arrange an interview with Jonathan Alward, CFIB’s director, prairie region, please call 431-998-4498 or email msman@cfib.ca. You can also follow CFIB Manitoba on Twitter @cfibMB.
For media enquiries or interviews with Laura Jones, CFIB’s executive vice-president, please contact Milena Stanoeva, Media Relations Specialist, at 647-464-2814 or email public.affairs@cfib.ca.
About CFIB
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 110,000 members (4,800 in Manitoba) across every industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners’ chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca.
About the Consumer Data
CFIB partnered with Maru/Matchbox to field questions on Maru’s ongoing study tracking how consumers feel, behave, and think during the COVID-19 pandemic. The online survey was conducted among 1,506 Canadian adults aged 18+ on June 9, 2020. A probability sample of this size would yield a margin of error of +/- 2.5%, nineteen times out of twenty. For more information about this study, please visit: www.marureports.com/coronavirus.
To find out more about how to become a sponsor of the #SmallBusinessEveryDay campaign or have your own campaign profiled on the site, contact marketing@cfib.ca.
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