It is confusing for small and medium businesses in Quebec

Small and medium-sized businesses in Quebec that rely on Facebook to boost internet traffic saw their sales halve Monday during a global blackout.

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“We saw our sales drop by 50% due to the outage. We use the Shopify platform and advertise on Facebook,” says Danny Ayoub, CEO of EC3D Sports, which makes clothes in Laval.

“We were preparing for a good month 16th anniversary sale. Facebook is our storefront. If that gets obstructed, no one sees us. We will lose $5,000 in Facebook ads.”

For Anne-Marie Laflamme, co-founder of Atelier B, a Montreal clothing store, the effect is immediate, because 80% of its sales come from the web.

“Visits to our web page have been halved compared to a typical Monday,” she said.

On Tuesday, Jeremy Easterbrook, CEO of Index Web Marketing, didn’t know where to go either when he saw the wave break.

“We have dozens of clients with sites that aren’t doing well or aren’t doing well. For Mr. and Mrs. everyone, the internet is Facebook.

“Me, I’m a condom, but my clients just haven’t realized it yet,” Samuel Parent, digital marketing consultant Titan Interactif shared.

In Sherbrooke, Alexandre Paquet, president of Leadfox, a small and medium-sized internet marketing company, was already feeling the effects of the blackout. “It has a huge impact on businesses. Our customers have felt it.”

Joining Milan, Italy, where she participated in the Group of Twenty entrepreneurs, Taïna Chalifoux said she felt the shock wave as far as Europe.

“It affected everyone’s sales. I got a sudden panic among entrepreneurs. It’s weird,” the President of Coffee Queen shared.

“Hopefully small and medium-sized businesses in Quebec will realize the importance of being the master of their own destiny,” concluded Yannick Dechen, President of Public Relations Group YPR Canada.