Small businesses that pivoted to online weathered pandemic best, survey finds
It’s no secret that small businesses bore the brunt of COVID-19 restrictions, but many managed to weather the pandemic – and a new survey reveals the secret to their success.
Web services company GoDaddy surveyed small businesses in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.
The findings show two-thirds increased their online presence during the pandemic, and 40 per cent credit that move with recent revenue growth.
“It did open the door to a new way of doing business that I think they can continue to use as we come out of the pandemic, maintaining these new ways of doing business,” said GoDaddy Canada vice-president Anna De Aragon.
That has certainly been the case for La Grotta Del Formaggio, a 43-year-old Commercial Drive deli that did not have much of a web presence prior to the pandemic but pivoted to digital to stay afloat.
“It was something we wanted to do for a long time so in a way this kind of gave us that push to get online,” said owner Sandra Raines, whose father founded the businesses with her grandfather in the late ‘70s.
“We quickly set up an online store, created a website. Then we found platforms like Uber Eats and Skip the Dishes."
Even with pandemic restrictions no longer a concern, the move continues to pay off.
The deli is currently closed for a major renovation, but the business keeps humming along as staff work out of the warehouse fulfilling web orders for customers.
"I see it continuing and I think we're growing and bringing in new things to the deli and I'm excited about the future,” said Raines.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Alice Munro, Nobel literature winner revered as short story master, dead at 92
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honoured short story writers, has died at age 92.
Latest updates on air quality alerts, and when the smoke may reach Ontario and Quebec
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
Are these Canada's best restaurants? Annual top 100 list revealed
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Attack on prison van in France kills 2 officers, inmate escapes
Armed assailants killed two French prison officers and seriously wounded three others in an attack on a convoy in Normandy on Tuesday and an inmate escaped, officials said.
Steal a car, lose your driver's licence for 10 years under new Ontario proposal
Repeat car thieves may face lengthy licence bans under proposed changes to Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act.
$1.6B parts plant for Honda electric vehicle batteries coming to Niagara Region
A Japanese company has announced it will build an approximately $1.6-billion plant in Ontario's Niagara Region that will make a key electric vehicle battery component as part of Honda's supply chain in the province.
B.C. brings in law on name changes on day that child killer's new identity revealed
The BC NDP have tabled legislation aimed at stopping people who have committed certain heinous acts from changing their names.
Manitoba premier to visit areas impacted by wildfire
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew will get a close-up look at the devastation from a large wildfire burning in northern Manitoba Tuesday.
1 killed, 3 injured including toddler, after Hwy. 417 crash in Ottawa
Ontario Provincial Police are responding to a fatal collision involving two vehicles on Highway 417 in Ottawa's west end on Tuesday morning.