May 11, 2018
Cox Business conducted a survey to explore how people feel about small businesses.
By: Elizabeth Rasberry
Social consciousness is spilling over into U.S. consumer’s shopping and dining habits, according to the 2018 Cox Business Consumer Pulse on Small Businesses.
Seventy-one percent of survey respondents said they would spend more money at a small business if it supported a positive social or environmental cause. While 68 percent of consumers think small business owners should openly promote the causes they support, more than half would stop supporting a small business if the causes they supported weren’t in line with the consumer’s personal views.
Diversity and inclusivity also factor into consumer support of a small business. Seventy-one percent said it is important to them that the small businesses they frequent practice diverse and inclusive hiring.
Using technology to power better experiences at small businesses is important to consumers and is becoming an important factor when consumers think about their cities, too. Forty-two percent of consumers say their city is starting to adopt “smart” technology – applications that combine people, connected devices, data and process to improve city operations and the city experience.
Check out more of this year’s findings in the infographic below. You can also follow @CoxBusiness on Twitter and join the conversation using #GoSmall to share the results with your network.
