Support Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday was created during the midst of the recession in 2010. Conceived by American Express, the event encourages holiday shoppers to shop local the day after Black Friday. Since then the event has grown. The 2031 event had some eye-popping statistics.

Stats from Small Business Saturday 2019 (SBA)

• 110 million people went out to shop small on Small Business Saturday 2019
• Spending on the day reached $19.6 billion, an increase of over 14 billion from the estimated 2012 event.
• According to the 2019 Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey, 97% of consumers who shopped on Small Business Saturday agree that small businesses are essential to their community
• Seven in ten adults are not just aware of the event, but the positive impact local small businesses have in their communities.

Most communities leave the event to the local chamber of commerce, if there is one. But for the smaller communities, there is often no chamber of commerce or other organization to lead the event.

Even if your community has an organization to lead the charge in preparing for Small Business Saturday, the local government should take a role in the event. Small Business Saturday not only helps your community’s local economic base, but it also brings extra sales taxes to communities with a sales tax in place.

A few communities have moved the kickoff of the holiday season activities to that day. It actually makes sense as it is at the start of the shopping season. The shift is also not that far from the typical holiday kickoff event, which is usually near the start of December. The main drawback is committing staff to an event that cuts off their Thanksgiving break. Hence, the level of community involvement in Small Business Saturday needs more thought than a knee-jerk reaction.

Social Involvement

One way for a local government to become more involved with Small Business Saturday is through social media. This may be relatively simple if your community has a chamber of commerce or other entity organizing the event. The social media campaign may have already been created. Then it is almost as simple as copying over into your own accounts.

As social media postings are programmable with the right apps, they can also be done well ahead of that Saturday.

Partner with your Local Organizations

Another way local government can help out is to partner with your local chamber of commerce on hosting the activities of the day. Fairfield, Connecticut partners with their chamber to host a “welcome station” during the event, providing complimentary “Shop Small” shopping bags. Courtesy of American Express, these bags also include valuable coupons to local stores and other free goodies.

Summit, New Jersey’s downtown organization organizes a great event each year. They have a “Shop Summit Passport” event that encourages shoppers to stop in stores that they may not typically visit to get their passports stamped. Once they’ve collected enough stamps, their name gets entered into a contest to win a $500 “Summit Visa gift card”. They also provide live music and carriage rides during the event, while the community waives parking fees for the entire weekend.

In Closing

Your community doesn’t need to go all-out like Fairfield or Summit. But it is a good idea to support your local small businesses with an organized event during Small Business Saturday.