Adedokun Waliyu 
A pedestrian wearing a mask walks past help wanted signage at Queen’s Pasta Cafe in Toronto on Bloor St. W. on Wednesday June 9, 2021.
A pedestrian wearing a mask walks past help wanted signage at Queen’s Pasta Cafe in Toronto on Bloor St. W. on Wednesday June 9, 2021.
A new Angus Reid survey by Amazon Business Canada says one-third of the country’s small business owners are struggling more now compared to the beginning of COVID-19.
The poll also found 83% of small business owners say inflation has affected their bottom line this past year with 44% increasing the prices of their own goods and services, 20% buying in bulk and another 20% looking to new supplier relationships to secure better deals.
The survey also discovered seven in 10 small businesses operating during 2020 and 2021 are doing the same (36%) or worse (33%) compared to the initial COVID-19 years.
“Fresh off of the pandemic, small business owners have been dealt one blow after another — from supply chain disruptions to labour shortages and now record-high inflation,” said Matt Busbridge, Country Manager, Amazon Business Canada, in a statement.
Looking eastbound and westbound along the construction corridor that will shut down Queen St. East and West for the next four-and-a-half years to accommodate the building of a section of the Ontario Line subway project on Tuesday May 16, 2023. It is only open to pedestrian traffic.
“Automating processes and strategic sourcing are just a couple of ways businesses can generate savings. Moving to a cloud-based purchasing system can give an organization the agility to respond in real-time to shifting buying needs, which will help strengthen a business’s overall performance.”
The survey was conducted from Sept. 18-25 among a sample of 391 online Canadian small business owners (with under 100 employees) with a margin of error of +/-4.96 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
