Walk down any main street and you’ll see it: the bakery that knows your order, the shop owner who remembers your name, the studio that’s been open since before smartphones existed. Small businesses have always been the heart of a community. What’s changed is how we find them.
Small businesses make up more than 98% of Canada’s employer businesses and employ nearly half the country’s private-sector workforce, according to federal data. And the money you spend with them tends to stay close to home: roughly 68 cents of every dollar spent at a small business stays in the local community.
But here’s the shift: more shoppers than ever are discovering local businesses through AI tools instead of a friend’s suggestion or a flyer on a corkboard. One recent survey found that the share of consumers using ChatGPT and similar tools for local recommendations jumped from just 6% to 45% in a single year, putting AI tools ahead of most traditional review sites. Reviews, listings and social posts now do double duty, helping both people and algorithms decide where to send you next. Supporting local hasn’t changed in spirit. It’s just picked up a few new habits along the way. Here are simple ways to make your support count, whether you’re shopping down the street or asking an AI assistant where to go.
- Ask, then actually go– If you ask an AI tool or a search engine for a recommendation, follow through and visit, order or book. It’s an easy first step, and it’s also a small vote of confidence for a business that might not have a big advertising budget behind it.
- Leave a review that’s actually useful- A few honest sentences about what you ordered, who helped you or what stood out go further than a star rating alone, and they take less than a minute to write. Reviews shape more than word of mouth these days. They also shape what AI tools and search engines recommend to the next person, so a thoughtful one keeps paying off long after you’ve forgotten you wrote it.
- Buy a gift card, any time of year- Gift cards aren’t just a holiday habit. Buying one in a quieter month gives a small business a cash-flow boost when they need it most, and it makes a thoughtful, no-guesswork gift any time someone’s tough to shop for. Even a small denomination adds up when enough people in your community do the same.
- Tag them when you post- A tagged photo, a quick story or a short video does more for a small business’s visibility than a private compliment ever could. Word of mouth has simply moved online, and video and social platforms are becoming as influential as traditional review sites.
- Share before you scroll past- If a local business pops up on your feed, a share or a comment costs you nothing and helps it reach a few more people. Small businesses rarely have the ad budgets to compete with big chains, so every bit of organic reach matters.
- Mark the day, then keep going- Small Business Saturday falls on Nov. 28 this year, and it’s a great excuse to explore somewhere new. But spending on the day actually dipped last year as shoppers chased bargains elsewhere, a reminder that small businesses need support all season, not just for one Saturday.
At the end of the day, supporting local is still about relationships: the shop owner who remembers your order, the studio that’s been part of your neighborhood for years. AI and algorithms may shape how we discover these places, but showing up for them, again and again, is still up to us.
Which small businesses have you discovered recently, online or off? Share your finds with the Shop Talk community!
Did you know? Ask and you shall find
Not long ago, almost no one used AI tools like ChatGPT to find a local business. Now, nearly half of consumers do — a sign that even the most old-fashioned kind of support, showing up for the people and businesses in your community, has gone digital.