Canadian Small Business Owners Remain Optimistic as the Economy Reopens
GoDaddy survey reveals almost three quarters of small business owners feel prepared to reopen business safely
TORONTO, June 15, 2020 /CNW/ - GoDaddy, the company that empowers everyday entrepreneurs, today released data from a new survey that revealed 73 per cent of Canadian small business owners feel prepared to make the necessary changes needed when they can reopen to the public.
Smaller-sized businesses (one to four employees) and those in Quebec (63 per cent) are more likely to feel very prepared to reopen their business safely. In fact, only nine per cent say they are very unprepared to reopen their business safely.
"Just like everyone else, we had to quickly adapt our business strategy," said Pauline Caballero, Co-Founder of Power Yoga Canada. "By offering a full series of online classes, workshops and training, we remained committed to staying open and getting through this with our community. We are looking forward to opening the doors to our studios once it is safe to do so. We are ready to implement new measures to ensure we meet government guidelines."
Even while social distancing, Canadian small business owners and entrepreneurs have been working hard to keep their businesses open. Improving online tools was the top adaptation business owners made, the survey shows. This shift to online opportunities is here to stay, with 37 per cent saying they plan to maintain their online presence even once they can physically reopen. Prior to being shut down, about half of small businesses had a social media presence and roughly the same number had a website. An additional 25 per cent of entrepreneurs have now created a website or started a social media account to help market their businesses as they remain closed physically.
As small businesses are eager to reopen, they still have had to overcome many challenges within the past few months. The top challenge businesses owners have faced is understanding changes in consumer spending behaviour (43 per cent). Other challenges include ensuring hygiene standards (27 per cent), issues in supply chain (26 per cent), working from home (25 per cent) paying employees (24 per cent) and paying rent (23 per cent). Despite these challenges business owners are taking the steps they need and continue to remain optimistic about reopening.
"It is promising to see the resilience and eagerness of Canadian small business owners and entrepreneurs to get back to work," said Anne De Aragon, Vice President and Country Manager of GoDaddy Canada. "Amidst these challenging times, we have seen small businesses adapt and rise through sheer determination. To help do so, many of them have created or enhanced their online presence with a website and other online tools. Small businesses owners are experiencing the benefits of being online as a way to continue to stay engaged with customers and a way to share updates about their business."
The survey found that almost half of businesses responded that they are offering free tools and resources and implemented programs to help vulnerable customers or employees during this time. In fact, 88 per cent of small business owners surveyed said they plan to continue to shop locally even after the economy reopens. And a majority of small business owners (69 per cent) say ordering products and services online is the best way for Canadians to support local businesses right now.
To help small business owners shift during these challenging times, GoDaddy is offering free tools and resources, and highlighting small businesses to stress the importance of supporting local business.
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About GoDaddy
GoDaddy is empowering everyday entrepreneurs around the world by providing all of the help and tools to succeed online. With 19 million customers worldwide, GoDaddy is the place people come to name their idea, build a professional website, attract customers and manage their work. Our mission is to give our customers the tools, insights and the people to transform their ideas and personal initiative into success. To learn more about the company, visit www.godaddy.ca.
About the GoDaddy Survey
The survey, commissioned by Logit Group, was sourced from a random sample of 500 Canadian small business owners. Small business owners were defined as those businesses that have one to 99 employees (56 per cent of survey respondents were micro businesses with four or less employees). Over 35 per cent of the businesses had been in business for more than ten years. The online survey was in market for approximately two weeks in May 2020 with a result accuracy within +/- 4.5 per cent.
SOURCE GoDaddy
