Small Business Saturday

Last updated

Small Business Saturday
Shop Small Logo 2015.jpg
Observed byUnited States
CelebrationsShopping
DateSaturday after U.S. Thanksgiving
2023 dateNovember 25  (2023-11-25)
2024 dateNovember 30  (2024-11-30)
2025 dateNovember 29  (2025-11-29)
2026 dateNovember 28  (2026-11-28)
Frequencyannual
Related to Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Buy Nothing Day, Super Saturday (Panic Saturday), Cyber Monday, Green Monday, Giving Tuesday, and Economics of Christmas

Small Business Saturday is a marketing initiative created and promoted by American Express to encourage holiday shopping on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in the United States, during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year. This Saturday is always the last one in November, so it falls between November 24 and November 30.

Contents

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. [1]

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, [2] and also gave rebates to new customers to promote the event. [3] [4]

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, [5] [6] which generated more than one million Facebook "like" registrations and nearly 30,000 tweets under the Twitter hashtags #smallbusinesssaturday and #smallbizsaturday. [7]

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[ citation needed ] 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. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boxing Day</span> Commonwealth nations holiday on 26 December

Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide. Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part of Christmas festivities, with many people choosing to shop for deals on Boxing Day. It originated in the United Kingdom and is celebrated in several Commonwealth nations. The attached bank holiday or public holiday may take place on 28 December if necessary to ensure it falls on a weekday. Boxing Day is also concurrent with the Christian festival Saint Stephen's Day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buy Nothing Day</span> Day of protest against consumerism

Buy Nothing Day is a day of protest against consumerism. In North America, the United Kingdom, Finland and Sweden, Buy Nothing Day is held the day after U.S. Thanksgiving, concurrent with Black Friday; elsewhere, it is held the following day, which is the last Saturday in November.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shopping hours</span> Time during which shops are open

Customs and regulations for shopping hours vary between countries and between cities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Friday (shopping)</span> Friday following Thanksgiving in the United States

Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving in the United States. It traditionally marks the start of the Christmas shopping season in the United States. Many stores offer highly promoted sales at discounted prices and often open early, sometimes as early as midnight or even on Thanksgiving. Some stores' sales continue to Monday or for a week.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public holidays in the United States</span> Holidays in the United States of America

In the United States, public holidays are set by federal, state, and local governments and are often observed by closing government offices or giving government employees paid time off. The federal government does not require any private business to close or offer paid time off, as is the case for most state local governments, so employers determine which holidays to observe.

The weekdays and weekend are the complementary parts of the week devoted to labour and rest, respectively. The legal weekdays, or workweek, is the part of the seven-day week devoted to working. In most of the world, the workweek is from Monday to Friday and the weekend is Saturday and Sunday. A weekday or workday is any day of the working week. Other institutions often follow this pattern, such as places of education. The constituted weekend has varying definitions, based on determined calendar days, designated period of time, and/or regional definition of the working week. Sometimes the term "weekend" is expanded to include the time after work hours on the last workday of the week.

Cyber Monday is a marketing term for e-commerce transactions on the Monday after Thanksgiving in the United States. It was created by retailers to encourage people to shop online. The term was coined by Ellen Davis of the National Retail Federation and Scott Silverman, and made its debut on November 28, 2005, in a Shop.org press release entitled "Cyber Monday Quickly Becoming One of the Biggest Online Shopping Days of the Year". Cyber Monday takes place the Monday after Thanksgiving; the date falls between November 26 and December 2, depending on the year.

Green Monday is an online retail industry term similar to Cyber Monday. The term was coined by Shopping.com, an eBay company, in 2007 to describe the best eCommerce sales day in December, usually the second Monday of December. After doing some internal research, they realized that the second Monday in December was the last day that shoppers were able to place an online order that would arrive in time for the holidays. Green Monday is defined more specifically by business research organization comScore as the last Monday with at least 10 days prior to Christmas.

Azar is the ninth month of the Solar Hijri calendar, the official calendar of Iran and Afghanistan. Azar has thirty days. It begins in November and ends in December by the Gregorian calendar. Azar corresponds to the Tropical Astrological month of Sagittarius.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christmas and holiday season</span> Christmas and surrounding holiday period

The Christmas season or the festive season; also known as the holiday season or the holidays, is an annual period generally spanning from late November to early January. Incorporating Christmas Day and New Year's Day, the various celebrations during this time create a peak season for the retail sector extending to the end of the period. Christmas window displays and Christmas tree lighting ceremonies are customary traditions in various locales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thanksgiving (United States)</span> American federal holiday in November

Thanksgiving is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. It is sometimes called American Thanksgiving to distinguish it from the Canadian holiday of the same name and related celebrations in other regions. It originated as a day of thanksgiving and harvest festival, with the theme of the holiday revolving around giving thanks and the centerpiece of celebrations remaining a Thanksgiving dinner. The dinner traditionally consists of foods indigenous to the Americas: turkey, potatoes, squash, corn (maize), green beans, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. Other Thanksgiving customs include charitable organizations offering thanksgiving dinner for the poor, attending religious services, and watching television events such as Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and America's Thanksgiving Parade as well as NFL football games. Thanksgiving is regarded as the beginning of the holiday season, with the day following it, Black Friday, said to be the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Groupon</span> American worldwide e-commerce marketplace

Groupon is an American global e-commerce marketplace connecting subscribers with local merchants by offering activities, travel, goods and services in 13 countries. Based in Chicago, Groupon was launched there in November 2008, launching soon after in Boston, New York City and Toronto. By October 2010, Groupon was available in 150 cities in North America and 100 cities in Europe, Asia and South America, and had 35 million registered users. By the end of March 2015, Groupon served more than 500 cities worldwide, nearly 48.1 million active customers and featured more than 425,000 active deals globally in 48 countries.

In retail, a doorbuster or door crasher deal is an offer that is handed out early into the business's opening hours; this offer almost always is promoting a good in limited supply. These deals are designed to attract large numbers of shoppers into the business.

Super Saturday or Panic Saturday is the last Saturday before Christmas or Christmas Eve, and is a major day of revenue for American retailers, marking the end of the shopping season which begins on Black Friday. Super Saturday targets last-minute shoppers. Typically the day is ridden with one-day sales in an effort to accrue more revenue than any other day in the Christmas and holiday season. The date is slightly more likely to fall on December 22, 19, or 17, than on December 21 or 20 (57), and slightly less likely to occur on December 23 or 18 (56). On years when Christmas falls on a Sunday, Super Saturday is officially on December 17 instead of December 24 even though the last Saturday before Christmas is December 24.

Cyber Black Friday is a marketing term for the online version of Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving Day in the United States. The term made its debut in a 2009 press release entitled "Black Friday Goes Online for Cyber Black Friday". According to TechCrunch, there was $9 billion in online sales on Cyber Black Friday, which is up 21.6% from 2019. With this, the average cart-size for a shopper was $95.60, and Shopify noted that there was an average of $6.3 million spent per minute across their more than one million merchant platform. A lot of this spending was directed towards technological devices, primarily smart phones. Of the $9 billion is sales, $3.6 billion (40%) was for smart phones. However, Cyber Black Friday is still inferior to its sister, Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday is primarily known to offer more discounted items, and is projected to reach sales between $11.2 billion and $13 billion in 2020. On a more promising no†e, Gian Fulgoni of comScore said, "Black Friday, better known as a shopping bonanza in brick-and-mortar retail stores, is increasingly becoming one of the landmark days in the online holiday shopping world." Some Cyber Black Friday sales are short-lived, last through the weekend, into Cyber Monday, and beyond.

Free Shipping Day is a one-day event held annually in mid-December. On the promotional holiday, consumers can shop from both large and small online merchants that offer free shipping with guaranteed delivery by Christmas Eve.

Lindә́i is the name of the ninth month of the Afghan calendar. It occurs in the late autumn season. It has 30 days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economics of Christmas</span> Economic aspects of Christmas

The economics of Christmas are significant because Christmas is typically a high-volume selling season for goods suppliers around the world. Sales increase dramatically as people purchase gifts, decorations, and supplies to celebrate. In the U.S., the "Christmas shopping season" starts as early as October. In Canada, merchants begin advertising campaigns just before Halloween, and step up their marketing following Remembrance Day on 11 November. In the UK and Ireland, the Christmas shopping season starts from mid-November, around the time when high street Christmas lights are turned on. In the United States, it has been calculated that about one fifth of retail sales to one quarter of all personal spending takes place during the Christmas/holiday shopping season. Figures from the U.S. Census Bureau reveal that expenditure in department stores nationwide rose from $20.8 billion in November 2004 to $31.9 billion in December 2004, an increase of 54 percent. In other sectors, the pre-Christmas increase in spending was even greater, due to a November through December buying surge of 100% in bookstores and 170% in jewelry stores. In the same year employment in American retail stores rose from 1.6 million to 1.8 million in the two months leading up to Christmas. This means that while consumers might spend more during this season, they also are given increased employment opportunities as sales rise to meet the increased demand.

National Use Your Gift Card Day is a shopping holiday that takes place yearly on the third Saturday of January. It is an unofficial observance with the inaugural observance taking place on January 18, 2020. National Use Your Gift Card Day encourages people to remember to use their gift cards.

The Black Friday hoax is historical claim about the origin of the term "Black Friday." The term denotes the Friday after Thanksgiving in the United States, a day that traditionally marks the start of the Christmas shopping season.

References

  1. "SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY Trademark Information". Trademarkia. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
  2. ""Small Business Saturday" Campaign Boosts City Merchants". NY1 News. November 27, 2010. Archived from the original on November 30, 2010.
  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. Archived from the original on November 30, 2010.
  5. "North Carolina's small businesses noted as Gov. Perdue proclaims 'Small Business Saturday'". Associated Press. November 27, 2010.[ permanent dead link ]
  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. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  8. "Small Business Saturday Hailed as Success. The Telegraph. 8 December 2013". Telegraph.co.uk. December 8, 2013. Retrieved December 2, 2014.