Supporting Small Businesses: Why It Matters and How You Can Help

Small and local businesses are the lifeblood of communities and local economies. They are often created by dedicated entrepreneurs who are deeply committed to serving their residents. Besides creating local employment opportunities, these entrepreneurs have an unwavering commitment to providing high-quality products.

Supporting local establishments helps to boost community revenue by keeping the money circulating within the community. When shopping from a local business, you can also develop a close relationship with the business owners. Making it easy for a more personal customer service from friendly staff, it helps to build relationships within the community and encourages the businesses to come up with the best products to serve their community. Furthermore, it’s environmentally friendly, walking to your local shops is better than driving to a store further down the road, especially when you only need a few items. This also helps the community to get out more and connect with one another.

Especially demonstrated in the recent times, small businesses often face many difficulties. Many small businesses start up as family businesses, where the funds are limited. The cashflow is solely dependent on savings, and the products sold on a day-to-day basis. For them to keep the business running they need to be making a stable amount of money regularly. Since small businesses are run by a small group of people, they need to invest quite a number of hours into making the products, running the business, marketing, and order fulfillment. Depending on where the small business is in their journey, they may not have the financial capabilities to employ employees yet, so most of their time goes into running the business.

Another major challenge is facing competitions from big box, or larger corporations, which have a big marketing budget to constantly advertise their products, and online stores with online delivery available within days.

Local businesses tend to lack marketing efforts simply due to a lack of time and money to invest in. Although they don't intend for it to become less important, there are times when they have no choice but to let it take a backseat due to the lack of support.

At Venngo, we believe in supporting small and local businesses and we take great pride in featuring them on our platform. Below are some you can check out on the platform. Don’t forget to browse for more and use your perk.

Escape from the 6ix (Mississauga)

One of the best escape rooms available, packed with challenges and fun activities to help you Escape from the 6ix! Enjoy this unique activity with your friends, family and even your team. It has also won the 2021 Traveler’s Choice by Trip Advisor. Something to really take advantage of!

Studio Fitness (Toronto)

If you are looking for intimate sessions in a welcoming environment, this gym is for you! Boasting no membership fees or contracts, you only pay for your personal training. Enjoy a wide range of fitness activities no matter where you are in your fitness journey, the trainers are here to support you.

Bo Tree Plant Based Cuisine (Unionville)

Bo Tree is the vegan and vegetarian restaurant to visit when you’re in Unionville, Markham, Ontario. Named after the Bohdi Tree, which represents the “tree of enlightenment”, the restaurant wants its patrons to experience happiness while consuming their fresh and healthy meals. It’s a guaranteed positive and memorable experience, whether you’re dining in or taking out.

L’Amour Pearls (Online)

Are you looking for high-quality hand-crafted real pearls? L’Amour Pearls offers a wide range of jewelry carefully crafted with love and cultured freshwater pearls! Check out this brand and its story! It’s an award-winning jewelry brand at Community Votes Markham 2022.

Twiggs Coffee (Sudbury)

An award-winning coffee company, offering the freshest roasted coffee in the house and proudly Canadian! Not only do they offer dine-in options, but they also have beautifully designed gift baskets packed with premium products. It’s a must-try!

Our Customer Success Manager for local businesses, Monica, has put together a cute date idea map for you if you’re in Toronto.

Give our small and local businesses some love, not just throughout October, but all the time! They deserve it!

*Disclaimer:

1. Note: Perks are subject to change, and some perks are tailored to your organization prior to launching.
2. *We are constantly bringing on new brands to partner with us, if you don’t see your preferred brand, you can suggest the brand to us, and we’ll try our best to have them on the platform. You can do so by logging on the app or the browser version and use our “Suggest a Perk” function.