Why supporting Small Business Saturday is more important than ever.
In case you haven’t heard, our favourite day is coming up real soon — and no, it’s not Christmas.
Never heard of Small Business Saturday before? We’d be thrilled to fill you in on why this day is arguably one of the most important (and meaningful) days of the year.
If this year's happenings haven’t yet made it clear to us the importance of supporting small businesses (especially those owned by BIPOC and womxn), I don’t know what will.
Did you know?
As of December 2017, 97% of businesses in Canada consist of small businesses (less than 100 employees), and they employ 8.3 million labourers — 70% of this country’s total private labour force.
Not only that, but micro-enterprises (companies with 1-4 employees) make up 53.8% of Canadian businesses. If you add to that businesses with 5-9 employees, this number increases to 73.4%. In other words, almost three quarters of Canadian businesses have less than 10 employees.
And one more fun fact; one third of Canada’s small & medium sized businesses are led/co-led by womxn.
Now here’s the bad news;
In Canada this year, one in seven small businesses are at risk of going under as a result of COVID-19. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business’ (CFIB) mid-range estimate for business closures due to COVID-19 this year is 14%.* That translates into 158,000 business closures, and over 1 million people losing their jobs.
*Depending on how recovery goes, losses could be as low as 5% or as high as 19%
In April 2019, the average amount of monthly business closures in Canada was 39,000. In April 2020, that number more than doubled with 88,187 closures.
Just to make it a little more personal, in Gastown (our neighbourhood) on our block alone three of eleven businesses have closed since April, with many more empty store & restaurant windows in the community.
And here’s the kicker;
According to CFIB, Canadians plan to spend only 1/3rd of their holiday budgets at small businesses this year. Instead, the majority of their spending will go towards the 0.2% of companies that make up Canada’s large businesses.
Maybe you think we’re making too big of a deal out of one day. The truth is, we might be — supporting small businesses shouldn’t just be encouraged, acknowledged, and rewarded on one day. It is imperative for our country, for our neighbourhoods, and for people’s livelihoods that we choose to support small businesses each and every day.
For an easy-to-digest resource, check out CFIB’s Small Business Recovery Dashboard here.
Together, let's make choices to support #SmallBusinessEveryDay
SOURCES;
https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/061.nsf/eng/h_03090.html
https://www.smallbusinesseveryday.ca/dashboard/
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/canada-could-lose-an-additional-158-000-small-businesses-to-covid-19-850043024.html
https://www.cfib-fcei.ca/sites/default/files/2020-07/research-snapshot-businesses-at-risk-of-closing.pdf
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-626-x/11-626-x2020014-eng.htm
https://blog.wagepoint.com/all-content/the-canadian-small-business-stats-everyone-should-know