by Josie Raymond, Tonic.com
It's that time of year again, but American Express has a new approach to holiday shopping. Support the little guys in your community on Saturday, Nov. 27 and everyone will have something to celebrate this season.
Forget Black Friday. Skip Cyber Monday. Think Small Business Saturday.
Spearheaded by American Express, which hopes it becomes a new national movement, Small Business Saturday is a time to patronize independently-owned, community-based shops and websites. It will be observed for the first time two days after Thanksgiving, on Nov. 27.
"By spreading the word about Small Business Saturday, we can help raise awareness about the critical role small businesses play in cities and towns across the country at a time when they need support the most," said American Express Chairman and CEO Kenneth Chenault when he unveiled the program last week with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
"Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and the glue that holds communities together," echoed Bloomberg, a man who knows a little something about business.
Beyond the Mall
No matter what you're after, there are plenty of small businesses to choose from; the US Small Business Administration says there are close to 28 million in this country. So see if you can do your holiday shopping (or just run your weekly errands) without Amazon, Walmart, Barnes & Nobel or other retail behemoths. Instead, try Spiffies Salon in Bedford, Ohio; Chubby Bubba's Pizza in Janesville, Wisconsin; Sundial Books in Chincoteague Island, Virginia; or Monogram Muse in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania. Those are just a few of the places that Small Business Saturday Facebook fans have pledged to support.
Keep in mind that small businesses don't just mean good service and a unique selection; they also account for the majority of job creation in the United States (about 65 percent over the last 17 years), so you'll know that your money's going to stay in the community. Their success is everyone's success. Anyway, isn't it just more fun to shop when you can sit on that bike, pick up that paperweight or try on that hat?
"This was a movement that was ready to happen," said Rosa Sabater, the senior vice president of American Express OPEN, the company's small business unit. "We just lit the match."
Just yesterday, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino issued a proclamation to formally recognize SBS in Beantown. Small businesses are also leveraging the day. One example is the florist in Florida who isoffering a discount for customers who mention Small Business Saturday on Nov. 27.
Sabater said that when she asks small businesses what they need to succeed, she hears one word again and again: customers. "The number one problem facing small businesses is demand," she said. "They say, 'When I see customers, I will hire that extra employee or I will invest in infrastructure.' We need to make them part of the dialogue of the busiest shopping time of the year."
She'll be doing her part with mother-daughter manicures, and then some shopping for school clothes at a favorite boutique in New York.
Share the Wealth
Speaking of worthy efforts, for every person who "likes" Small Business Saturday on Facebook from now until Nov. 27, American Express will donate $1 to Girls Inc., the nonprofit focused on cultivating confidence, self-esteem and entrepreneurship among girls across the country (it reached almost a million of them last year). The maximum donation is a not-small-at-all $500,000.
The partnership was a natural fit, says Girls Inc. President and CEO Judy Vredenburgh. "We've been working for decades on the idea of making girls strong, smart and bold," she said. "And part of what we mean by bold is economically independent."
Through targeted after-school and summer curricula, Girls Inc. prepares girls — from first-graders to teenagers — to be the entrepreneurs of tomorrow. The small business owners that consumers will be seeing on Small Business Saturday are ideal role models.
"To ultimately be economically independent," Vredenburgh says, "it's all about planning and setting goals and achieving those goals. It's the basic concepts of saving, planning, investing and deciding what's most important."
Girls Inc. programming divides girls into four age groups. The youngest get help with counting and managing their allowances, while middle school students learn about compounding interest. High schoolers can enroll in an intensive eight-week course to practice investing — with real money. Their returns are put in scholarship funds. Still other participants go to corporate entrepreneurship camp, where instead of making lanyards they work together on business plans. "A half million dollars would allow us to grow our services to more girls," Vredenburgh said.
Give and Get
As with the holiday season as a whole, Small Business Saturday is about giving and getting. Have an AmEx card? Register your card and use it to shop at participating businesses on Nov. 27 and you'll be among the 100,000 cardholders who get $25 cash back.
What's more, 10,000 small business owners who sign up and spread the word about Small Business Saturday will get $100 of free Facebook advertising to lure customers to their stores on Nov. 27.
Don't have a storefront or an American Express card? You can still help support your neighbors and your community. Just shop small on Nov. 27, and ask your friends and family to join you. No 4 a.m. wakeup call, no newspaper flyers, no sold out signs — that's a better deal than any doorbuster.
Photo courtesy Roger H. Goun Flickr
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