A white carpet of snow has just covered the ground everywhere in Quebec. We have officially entered the period leading up to the Holidays, the one we knew before the last two years of confinement. Santa Claus will make numerous appearances all over Quebec, notably in shopping centers and in parades organized by local entrepreneurs.
Synonymous with sharing, reunions and celebrations, the end of the year is an opportunity for each of us to give a little of ourselves for the other. For family, friends, loved ones. But also for the poorest and people in difficulty.
Finally ! We will have the opportunity to see each other, to get together with the people who are dear to us, to tell each other that we love each other and to underline everything by offering each other gifts. But the holidays will be different in an environment of high inflation. Citizens are being hit hard and it will ripple through their spending, as confirmed by the Angus Reid Institute’s October Consumer Economic Pulse1which indicates that nearly half of consumers (48%) plan to spend less this holiday season compared to last year.
This inflation is also hard hit by our Quebec SMEs. They are affected to such an extent that two out of five have reduced their profit margins and a third have reduced their investments and their growth forecasts. This situation comes after a two-year pandemic that has weakened our local businesses. Even today, the majority of them have pandemic debt. To make matters worse, the labor shortage is not easing. Business owners are forced to work more to compensate for the lack of staff, to close certain days and to refuse contracts and sales. Added to this are supply difficulties, an excessive tax and regulatory burden, especially for the smallest businesses. All of these challenges are pebbles in the shoes of small business owners and tarnish their morale and confidence. For the sixth consecutive month, our entrepreneurs are alerting us to their flagging optimism.
In summary, it’s still tough for our local businesses and the holiday season can make a big difference.
To promote buying local from the start of holiday shopping, for more than 10 years, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has been organizing Small Business Saturday2. This year it is November 26. Our goal is for you to use this day to unleash your love of local shopping and say thank you!
What beautiful messages SMEs have received from their customers! We publish them on the PME Saturday website. Take the example of these two messages: “Thank you for being so present in the community and for continually giving back! » ; “Thank you for your dedication and passion. You make a difference in society and in the neighborhood on a daily basis. »
These are beautiful testimonies of what buying local brings.
Yes, buying local means supporting your neighboring artisans, your small neighborhood shops, your favorite café. It means encouraging the workforce of Quebec, because our Quebec SMEs employ more than 2 million people.
It’s supporting your community. In fact, the results of our November survey show that two out of three small business owners across the country support local causes by donating their time and money to charities.
This is to ensure concrete economic benefits, because 69% of small traders buy products and services from other local businesses.
It’s helping to beautify the neighborhoods we live in.
It is quite possible that the context of high inflation will encourage consumers, in addition to spending cuts, to turn to the big chains and the web giants for their holiday shopping. And this, to the detriment of many Quebec SMEs which also offer competitive prices. Many will start their shopping with the promotions put forward for Black Friday. Let’s spare a thought for our local businesses and stay tuned for possible Saturday SME promotions.
I’ve written many times about the importance of buying local. I’m doing it again today, because the context still makes it a living issue to ensure that our SMEs can stay alive. Let’s buy local for our SMEs, the hearts of our cities and our economy. Let’s continue the buying local efforts that we have made collectively over the past two years and start with Saturday SME.