Small Business Saturday

History

First observed in the United States on November 27, 2010, Small Business Saturday is a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which feature big box retail and e-commerce stores respectively. By contrast, Small Business Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to patronize brick and mortar businesses that are small and local. Small Business Saturday is a registered trademark of American Express.

The first event was created by American Express, in partnership with the non-profit National Trust for Historic Preservation, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, and Roslindale Village Main Street. In 2010, the holiday was promoted by American Express via a nationwide radio and television advertising campaign. That year Amex bought advertising inventory on Facebook, which it in turn gave to its small merchant account holders, and also gave rebates to new customers to promote the event.

American Express publicized the initiative using social media, advertising, and public relations. Many local politicians and small business groups in the United States issued proclamations concerning the campaign, which generated more than one million Facebook "like" registrations and nearly 30,000 tweets under the Twitter hashtags #smallbusinesssaturday and #smallbizsaturday.

Hashtag

The Twitter hashtag #SmallBusinessSaturday has existed since early 2010 and was used to promote small businesses on any Saturday (not solely that Saturday between Black Friday and Cyber Monday). The hashtag is used in a manner similar to #FollowFriday to highlight favorite local businesses. Additionally, some small business owners have run marketing specials on the November Small Business Saturday to help capitalize on the boost in foot or online traffic, as most customers in this time period are actively shopping for the holidays.

Around the world

Small Business Saturday UK began in the United Kingdom in 2013 after the success of Small Business Saturday in the United States of America.

References

References

1. "SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY Trademark Information". Trademarkia.
2. (November 27, 2010). ""Small Business Saturday" Campaign Boosts City Merchants". NY1 News.
3. Mastrull, Diane. (November 21, 2010). "In holiday shopping, Small Business Saturday is small business' rebuttal to Black Friday".
4. Pena, Michel. (November 27, 2010). "'Small Business Saturday'". StockBriefings.com.
5. (November 27, 2010}}{{Dead link). "North Carolina's small businesses noted as Gov. Perdue proclaims 'Small Business Saturday'". Associated Press.
6. Dolak, Kevin. (November 27, 2010). "Local Retailers Hope for Big Returns on Small Business Saturday". ABC News.
7. "AmEx touts success of 'Small Business Saturday'". U-T San Diego.
8. (December 8, 2013). "Small Business Saturday Hailed as Success. The Telegraph. 8 December 2013". Telegraph.co.uk.