Merchants could lose a significant pool of consumers if they are not able to serve their customers in French, according to a Léger survey.
Reception, signage and service in French represent the second most important criterion for French-speaking consumers in the greater Montreal area, behind price competitiveness, according to the survey, unveiled Friday, carried out in collaboration with the firm Raymond Sculpin Grant Thornton.
The study shows that 40% of French speakers would abandon their purchase if they were not served in their language. Four out of five say they are ready to travel 30 minutes for linguistic reasons.
The place of French in Montreal businesses also concerns French speakers. 68% say that the situation has deteriorated over the last five years. Nearly a third (30%) of Francophones choose to avoid certain areas of the city for fear of not being served in French.
The survey also shows that four out of ten English speakers are unaware that there is a legal obligation to do business in French in Quebec. This rate is 4.5 out of 10 for allophones.
The survey was conducted online in May with 3,012 respondents residing in the greater Montreal area. The margin of error cannot apply in this case, since the sample is not random; but Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton says the results were weighted to be representative of the population.
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