I believe in the power of small business (and I believe you should too). As they influence local economies and foster the entrepreneurial spirit the U.S. thrives on, the impact these businesses make cannot be ignored.
This year, the special holiday c reated to celebrate these businesses (Small Business Saturday) falls on November 28th. Building off last year’s
momentum, consumers nationwide are encouraged to shop small and support their local businesses.
The holiday began back in 2010, founded by American Express, whose simple goal was to help businesses gain more customers. The inspiration for this stemmed from the 3/50 Project created by Cinda Baxter in 2009. The idea here was to choose three independent businesses at which to spend $ 50 each.
Since then, the outpouring of support for this holiday has grown by leaps and bounds. In 2011, the U.S. Senate officially recognized the holiday and by last year, Small Business Saturday joined forces with ecommerce platform Etsy.
In 2014, shoppers spend $ 14.3 billion at small businesses and showed their support on social media using the ShopSmall and SmallBizSat hashtags over 126,000 times on the actual day.
What consumers might not know is that for every $ 100 spent at a local store, $ 68 of that goes back to local economy by way of taxes, payroll and other expenditures. Compare that $ 100 spent at a national chain and only $ 43 stays local.
Small businesses are also responsible for creating more new jobs than their large corporation counterparts. So it’s clear that the value of a dollar extends well beyond a small business owner’s pocket.
It is my hope that this infographic will inspire other small businesses to get involved with this year’s holiday or at least support others in your community by shopping small. The value of shopping small will prove to make a bigger impact than you may realize.
The original post and infographic can be found here.
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