News brief
What started as an American Express event over a decade ago has now become a national tradition. Local businesses are gearing up for Small Business Saturday, an event that boosts holiday shopping at brick-and-mortar stores once in a while. busiest of the year.
Small Business Saturday generated more than $23 billion last year between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, according to the American Express 2021 Small Business Saturday Customer Survey. This is an 18% increase compared to 2020.
This year, 42% of consumers plan to participate, according to a survey conducted by LendingTree. The online lending market ranks Utah No. 1 in its analysis of what makes small businesses the most popular. Wyoming, Montana, Nevada and Colorado too ranked in the top 15. About 60% of businesses in these states have fewer than five employees.
Aikta Marcoulier works for the US Small Business Administration in the Rocky Mountain Region. He said Small Business Saturday is more important than ever because of the pandemic.
“We’ve seen problems in Colorado before, but this is a long-term problem that we’re dealing with,” he said. “This is very important for us and Colorado businesses to take advantage of this time of year.”
According to him, this event is not just about finding things that are not in the big box stores – it is about keeping small businesses alive.
“78% of small businesses…the income they get this shopping season will determine if they will work next year,” he said.
A study conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business in 2018 found that 67 cents of every dollar spent on a local business stays in the community, promoting economic development.
Marcoulier said customers can also support small businesses by shopping on their online stores, buying their gift cards, and promoting them on social media. This can be very helpful for small businesses that are not located in large areas such as Denver or Salt Lake City.
“Most of our region is rural, and it’s important to remember that we also need to support those rural businesses,” he said. “And the most interesting thing is many of our businesses, the pandemic pushed them online. So e-commerce and online shopping are part of today’s small business.”
The US Small Business Administration has free resources and a list of resource partners on its website when businesses need help getting the word out.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana , KUNC in Colorado, KUNM in New Mexico, with support from other institutions. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
