Shoppers Boost the Local Economy on Small Business Saturday

#ShopSmall

American Express launched Small Business Saturday in 2010 to encourage holiday shoppers to patronize local/small businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

This is the seventh year and every year, merchant participation and public response have been bigger and better than the previous year. In 2015, 95 million US consumers purchased something as part of Small Business Saturday, for a total estimated financial impact of $16 billion.

This year, the official FB page has 3.5 million likes...the Twitter account has 56.5k followers...the Instagram account has 22.5k followers.

Not only does Amex provide downloadable marketing materials for small businesses, it also has a lookup function to find participating businesses in the local area, wherever you are.

A Google search for "Small Business Saturday" returned 45 million+ results today. The majority are local media outlets publicizing participants (this year and previous years). So if you have gifts to buy or want to enjoy a meal out, Small Business Saturday is a good opportunity to vote with your wallet and make a difference to the local economy.

Fourth Annual Small Business Saturday

November 30 is Small Business Saturday, started by American Express in 2010 to encourage shoppers to patronize small businesses on the Saturday after Black Friday.

The movement has been embraced by merchants and shoppers alike. Just check the Facebook page, which has 3.2 million likes. Yikes!

The Twitter account has 25,000+ followers. Check for the hashtag #smallbizsat and you'll see all kinds of specials and comments.

The Small Business Administration is one of many organizations supporting the movement with tips and clicks.

Yes, Amex gets a lot of publicity out of it, and yes, it would be nice if Amex got a lot of charge business too. In fact, Amex offers a free $10 credit for shoppers who use its card on Saturday (check the fine print for the details and limitations). Still, an Amex VP says: “Small Business Saturday is payment agnostic,” she says. “As long as consumers shop small, we don’t care how they shop.”

Bad News Travels Fast--So Be Good

News about bad customer experiences travels faster and farther on social media than ever before. A new American Express survey shows that people who use social media will tell 53 people about a bad customer service experience but tell only 42 people about good customer service.

The top four complaints about customer service: (1) rudeness, (2) being passed from department to department without resolving the issue, (3) having to wait too long for resolution, and (4) forcing consumers to repeatedly follow up to get a problem resolved.

This global survey revealed the increasing use of social media worldwide for customer service. In India, for instance, more than half of the respondents have tried social media to get attention for a service problem.

Take a cue from Zappos, which has a dedicated Twitter customer-service account, and more than 12,000 followers (and following). When problems crop up, as they do, Zappos uses every communication tool to inform and reassure customers. After Zappos was hacked and millions of customer names were exposed, the company first alerted employees to the problem and then publicly posted reports about what had happened and what the company was doing to fix things fast.

The bottom line for company bottom lines: Do your best on customer service and when problems arise, get them resolved as quickly and politely as possible.