Canadians are keen to support local small businesses: RBC poll

Greater control and money top the reasons why some Canadians want to own their own business, with 88 per cent saying that owning a business would allow them to have control over their future and 83 per cent saying that it would allow them to make more money. This feeling is stronger among current business owners, 96 per cent of whom say that owning their own business has given them the chance to have control over their career and 90 per cent saying they have the opportunity to make more money.

And our affinity for small businesses doesn't stop there – 63 per cent of Canadians said that they would prefer to work for a small business.

Millennials go beyond by helping to promote their favourite local businesses
When it comes to supporting small and local businesses, millennials put their money where their ideals are. Over two-thirds (69 per cent) say they would pay more for goods and services offered through a local business. Furthermore, 75 per cent say they would support a local business by helping to promote them on social media. In fact, 66 per cent of millennials engage with small businesses through social media – more than 20 percentage points higher than any other age group.

Millennials are also demanding emerging payment options; 80 per cent wish more of the businesses they frequent had tap to pay, and 60 per cent wish more had mobile payment options.

Working for themselves is also top of mind for many millennials with 74 per cent saying they thought of owning their own business, 11 percentage points higher than the average Canadian adult.

*About the RBC Small Business Poll
The RBC Small Business Poll was conducted by Ipsos Group S.A. from July 13 - 17, 2017. More than 2000 surveys were completed online by Canadian adults, with more than 200 people represented in six different regions (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan/Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada). Representative sample results are weighted to reflect the Canadian population. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ±2.5 percentage points had all Canadian adults been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population represented. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to, coverage error, and measurement error.

About RBC
Royal Bank of Canada is Canada's largest bank, and one of the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalization. We are one of North America's leading diversified financial services companies, and provide personal and commercial banking, wealth management, insurance, investor services and capital markets products and services on a global basis. We have approximately 81,000 full- and part-time employees who serve more than 16 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 35 other countries. For more information, please visit rbc.com.‎

RBC helps communities prosper, supporting a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments and employee volunteer activities. For more information please see: http://www.rbc.com/community-sustainability/.

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‡ Apple Pay is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S and other countries. ‡Android Pay is a trademark of Google Inc.

SOURCE RBC Royal Bank