Fewer customers and lower spending per customer affecting small business recovery

#SmallBusinessEveryDay campaign encouraging local shopping ramps up with weekly challenge as we head back to fall routines 

Toronto, September 3, 2020 – Fewer customers and reduced spending per customer are holding back small business recovery, according to new survey results released today by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. The weekly #SmallBusinessEveryDay recovery dashboard was also updated with new results:

• 64 per cent of businesses are fully open (compared to 66 per cent two weeks ago)
• 41 per cent are fully staffed (40 per cent two weeks ago)
• 28 per cent are making normal sales (28 per cent two weeks ago)

“We’re hoping that as people get back to fall routines businesses will get a much-needed revenue boost. Consumers are critical to small businesses and their financial and emotional support means more now than ever,” said Laura Jones, Executive Vice-President at CFIB.  

The majority of businesses are still reporting lower than normal sales. Challenges to getting back to normal sales include: fewer customers (58 per cent), customers spending less on average (48 per cent) and operational challenges, such as online sales, shipping, and interrupted supply chains (27 per cent). Government restrictions (20 per cent) and not being able to find staff (18 per cent) are also causing lower than normal revenues.

CFIB will be ramping up its #SmallBusinessEveryDay campaign this fall with weekly challenges heading towards Small Business Saturday in October. This weekend’s challenge is to use the #CanadaUnited hashtag to promote your favourite business on Twitter or like or share the Canada United video online. For each like, share or hashtag use RBC will contribute 5 cents to a fund that will grant businesses up to $5,000 to help with recovery. 

“This week’s challenge to help small business doesn’t cost anything but time. Extra credit is always an option and with so many restaurants at risk of permanent closure, we are suggesting an extra effort on the long weekend to indulge in some restaurant therapy,” said Jones.

For media enquiries or interviews, please contact:
Milena Stanoeva, CFIB
647-464-2814
public.affairs@cfib.ca 

Source for CFIB data
CFIB, preliminary results for Your Business and COVID-19 – Survey #20, online survey started August 27, 2020, n = 3,752. For comparison purposes, a probability sample with the same number of respondents would have a margin of error of +/-1.6%, 19 times out of 20.

About CFIB
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 110,000 members 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 #SmallBusinessEveryDay
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. To find out more about being a media sponsor please contact marketing@cfib.ca.