As businesses around the country prepare for the holiday shopping frenzy, it is important for communities to support their local small businesses. One way that they can do this is by participating in Small Business Saturday! Celebrated on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the day after Black Friday and before Cyber Monday, SBS is an important day for many small businesses across the country. So before that date arrives let’s look into the history of Small Business Saturday.
It began in 2010.
The first SBS was on November 27, 2010. It was a campaign created by credit card company American Express to help small businesses gain some additional exposure during the post-Thanksgiving shopping spree, as well as change the way consumers shop within their local community. The movement began to grab national attention, and a year later the Senate passed a resolution supporting the day. American Express offers small business owners free, personalized ads to help market themselves to their community.
It has grown significantly since then.
Since that first year, SBS has grown bigger and bigger, as well as more and more crucial to small businesses. In 2015 there were over 95 million people who shopped at small businesses on SBS, and spent $16.2 billion. The most recent SBS saw record high of $19.6 billion spent at small businesses. While this year may see a drop due to COVID restrictions around the country, it still does not take away the impact that the day has on small businesses.
Why it’s so important.
In case you were curious as to why SBS was started to encourage people to shop at businesses in their local community, check out these facts:
- As of 2018 there are more than 30 million small businesses in the US.
- These represent 99.9 percent of all businesses in the US.
- They employ around 48 percent of private sector employees in the US.
- They constitute almost 2 of every 3 new jobs.
- They constitute 97.6 percent of firms that export goods.
So you can see why supporting your local small businesses is crucial in maintaining our economy. When you shop at a small business, most if not all the money you spend will find its way back into your local community. So when you support your local small businesses, you basically support yourself and your community.
To better understand the challenges and successes that every small business go through, check out the docuseries Saving Main, which highlights three small businesses and their stories.
Article sources: ShopSmall web-page; FBFS article; Senate Resolution 692.
