A majority (65%) of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) expect to lose sales to multinational corporations and e-commerce giants as major shopping events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday take place this weekend.
This is what the results of a survey published on Monday by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) suggest. It shows that while a third of Canadian consumers (34%) plan to shop at large retailers during the holiday season, only 16% of them do the majority of their shopping at small retailers.
However, according to CFIB, almost half (46%) of small retailers rely on holiday shopping.
“Given the cost of groceries, utilities and rent, it is no surprise that many consumers want to reduce their spending during the holidays this year,” said François Vincent, vice-president of Quebec at the CFIB.
The latter also encourages Canadians to shop locally during the “SME Saturday” event on November 25th.
“It’s not just large retailers that will be posting lower prices this weekend: more than two in five medium-sized businesses will be holding a sale or offering discounts.” […]. Every local dollar keeps $0.66 in the community, compared to $0.11 when spent in a multinational company,” Mr. Vincent added.
The survey, conducted by the Angus Reid Group, was conducted among 1,510 Canadians from October 27 to October 31, 2023.