From the main streets
in towns like Galesburg, Illinois to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, there was strong
support for local independent businesses on Small Business Saturday. Shoppers
across the nation made a powerful statement with 88 million consumers “Shopping Small” on the day, up 14.9 percent
from just a year ago. This according to the results from the Small Business
Saturday Consumer Insights Survey, released today by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) and American Express.
According to the
survey, the average person who shopped on Small Business Saturday spent $162,
down 11.5 percent from the previous year. Though average spending was down,
overall spending was boosted by strong awareness and the sheer volume of
shoppers supporting their local businesses on the day.
With more than
two-thirds (67%) of the U.S. population aware of Small Business Saturday and
more people shopping, U.S. consumers who were aware of Small Business Saturday
reported spending $14.3 billion* with independent retailers and restaurants on
the day, an increase of 2.1 percent from $14.0 billion in 2013.
“It is exciting
to see more consumers shop small and support their communities,” said John
Kabateck, NFIB/CA Executive Director. “We
want to encourage everyone to continue to support the small businesses in their
town not just on Small Business Saturday, but every day of the year.”
“Once again,
Small Business Saturday proved to be a bright spot over the first official holiday
shopping weekend,” said Denise Pickett, President, American Express OPEN. “Small
businesses are critical to the stability of our local communities and growth of
our national economy. We are confident that the broad national support for
these businesses will continue well beyond November 29th.”
Elected Officials Across the U.S. Pledge
Their Support
- Elected
officials in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. – including President
Obama and many senior government officials – championed Small Business
Saturday. - The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution, cosponsored by
the bipartisan leadership of the Senate Committee on Small Business and
Entrepreneurship, Senators Maria Cantwell and James Risch,
designating November 29th as Small Business Saturday. - 40 state governments issued state proclamations in support
of Small Business Saturday. - 450 city proclamations
in support of Small Business Saturday were issued by mayors and other elected officials in a number of states and Washington D.C.
Communities and Supporters Make Year Five
Bigger than Ever
- Nearly 3,000 Neighborhood Champions around the country rallied
local businesses and created events and activities in their communities. - Premier partners FedEx, Eventbrite, Microsoft and Yelp worked
with American Express to promote shopping at small businesses for Small
Business Saturday. - In addition, 446 companies signed up to become official supporters
of the day. - 386 advocacy organizations signed up to support the nationwide
initiative. - More than 610,000 free online tools and materials were accessed by
small business owners on shopsmall.com to help get the word out about
Small Business Saturday. - On Nov 29th alone,
more than 126,000 tweets were sent in support of the
initiative, many using the hashtags #SmallBizSat and #ShopSmall, a 10
percent increase from the previous year; those Tweets ranged from
consumers spreading the word about the national initiative to business
owners promoting offers that they created specifically for the day.
About the Survey
The Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights
Survey was conducted among a nationally representative sample of 2682 males and
females 18 years of age or older. The sample was collected using an email
invitation and an online survey. The study was conducted anonymously by
independent marketing performance specialist Ebiquity on November 30, 2014. The
survey has an overall margin of error of +/- 1.9%, at the 95% level of
confidence.
About Small Business Saturday
November 29th
marks the fifth annual Small Business Saturday, a day dedicated to supporting
the local businesses that create jobs, boost the economy and preserve neighborhoods
around the country. Small Business Saturday was created by American Express in
2010 in response to small business owners’ most pressing need: more customers.
