Small Business Saturday Is Going to Be Huge

Posted on Nov 23, 2010 by Martin Lieberman under Small Business Trends
 

How will you be spending your upcoming weekend? If you’re like me and millions of Americans, you’ll be embarking on the annual ritual that is holiday shopping, picking up presents for family and friends.
This year, however, why not take the action to a smaller scale, and join with us to support the first-ever Small Business Saturday on November 27.

While Black Friday and Cyber Monday both drive sales to national chains and larger retailers, Small Business Saturday, a national campaign sponsored by American Express OPEN, recognizes the importance of small, independently owned businesses to our national economy and local communities.
If you’re a small business, we don’t have to tell you about the impact you have on the economy. But here are just two examples:

• Research conducted by the 3/50 project suggests that for every $100 spent in locally owned independent stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll, and other expenditures — far greater than the amount from national chains.
• According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, an estimated 27.5 million small businesses operated in the United States in 2009, and they created 65 percent of net new jobs.

When you bypass the shopping malls and choose to buy from your local retailers, or eat at an independently owned restaurant instead of a chain, you do more good than you may realize. That’s why we believe it’s so important to support small businesseses, this Saturday and always.
Want to get involved in the Small Business Saturday movement? Here are four ways to do so:

• Spread the word about Small Business Saturday with the sharing tools found on facebook.com/smallbusinesssaturday and smallbusinesssaturday.com, and through Twitter using the hashtag #SmallBusinessSaturday.
• Give shout-outs to your favorite local shops and restaurants so the people in your social networks help the businesses you love.
• Small business owners can download a number of social media tools and promotional materials to create buzz for their business through Small Business Saturday.
• If you’re an American Express card member, the first 100,000 people to pre-register their card and then spend at least $25 on Small Business Saturday at a small, independently owned small business will receive a $25 credit on their next billing statement.

And of course, choose to make your holiday purchases where it matters: At your favorite small business. While you’re there, ask the manager if he or she has an email list you can join, or a social media account you can be a part of.

Will you be shopping small? Are you a small business offering a special promotion this Saturday? Tell us all about it by posting a comment here or on our Facebook Page.
Small Business Saturday … It’s going to be huge.