Small businesses suffering amid pandemic, survey shows

by Samantha Ashenhurst | April 16, 2020 5:13 pm

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Mandates in place to minimize the spread of COVID-19 have led to the temporary closure of non-essential brick-and-mortar stores across Canada, and those who operate small businesses are feeling the impact.

This is according to Alignable, which has polled more than 216,000 small business owners in Canada and the United States. Ninety per cent of respondents reported their business has been negatively affected by COVID-19, with one-third stating they only have “a couple weeks’ worth” of cash left to sustain them

In Canada, the provinces most affected, Alignable says, are:

• Saskatchewan (93.1 per cent of businesses negatively affected);
• Ontario (91.3 per cent); and
• New Brunswick (91.2 per cent).

However, while small businesses are certainly facing hard times, 60 per cent of owners say they’ve received support from community members and colleagues. Networking groups, customers, and other small business owners within the same industry were listed among the most supportive segments, with the majority of support cited as either monetary (16 per cent) or morale-boosting (36 per cent).

To monitor small business reactions to the COVID-19 threat, Alignable conducts weekly online surveys of a random sample of its database of more than 4.5 million small business owners.

For more, click here[2].

Source URL: https://www.jewellerybusiness.com/news/small-businesses-suffering-amid-pandemic-survey-shows/

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