The Brits have started adopting American retail/shopping holidays in the recent years, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday being huge hits with the shoppers. Another retail holiday is making its way in the UK, the Small Business Saturday. It has been inspired by the American Small Business Saturday, which takes place traditionally the Saturday after Thanksgiving. However in the UK, Small Business Saturday will be celebrated in the upcoming weekend, on Saturday 2nd of December.
Small Business Saturday has been running since 2013 in the UK, and this will year will be the fifth time that small businesses will be celebrated. The sales that small businesses made on Small Business Saturday increased year-on-year from 2015 to 2016, and the success rate definitely encourages future campaigns. In 2016, customers decided to shop small in full swing and spend approximately £717 million on Small Business Saturday, which was a huge increase of 15% from the previous year. All small businesses should get involved and take part in celebrating the business community and all it contributes to society.
Small Business Saturday is a non-commercial campaign which encourages the general public to shop small and support local small businesses. The small business sector is a huge part of the UK economy and needs the support of the public in order to keep on thriving. According to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) the combined turnover of SME’s in 2016 was £1.8 trillion, which consisted of 47% of all the private sector turnover. The total employment in SME’s was also 15.7 million people, which accounts for 60% of all the private sector employment in the UK. These numbers just prove how small businesses in the UK are at the heart of the economy.
Richard Beaven, distribution director at Swinton Business, said: “Over recent years, the UK economy has faced significant challenges and uncertainty, so it is heartening to see that the nation’s entrepreneurial spirit still appears to be so strong and particularly amongst the small business and gig worker communities.” A study conducted by Swinton Business, reiterates how important the SME’s are to the UK economy, and how micro businesses account for the largest population of British businesses by size.
Get involved
There are multiple ways in which you can get involved in celebrating Small Business Saturday depending on who you are.
If you are a customer, then shop small. Encourage friends and family to also participate and shop at their local small businesses.
If you are a small business then you can get involved by registering on the Small Business Saturday website and you will therefore be listed on their website as a business that is involved in the campaign. On the website you can also find help with logos, marketing and social media for the campaign.
Lastly, if you are a local authority, you can contribute to making this day a success. Previously, free parking has been offered to customers, which encourages the public to come out shopping.
Get involved and help the small business community thrive.
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