Amazon conducted survey in September with 391 small businesses

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.

“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.

Source: https://torontosun.com/news/national/one-third-of-canadian-small-biz-struggling-more-than-during-covid-poll