As your prepping holiday lists this year, and preparing yourself to stand in huge lines for all the Black Friday deals happening the day after Thanksgiving, make sure you keep in mind the importance of shopping small this year. At Gravity Payments, we’re a huge advocate of supporting small business owners. They are the ones who care the most about our communities, but the ones who get the least appreciation or support. That’s why we’re so excited a movement has swept the nation to start shopping small, so much so, that an entire day has been dedicated to doing so.
This upcoming weekend after all the chaos of Black Friday, make sure you go out and support your community by shopping on Small Business Saturday. Here are Gravity’s top four tips for this weekend’s Small Business Saturday:
- Give back to charity. Consider donating a portion of your proceeds back to a charity you care about this holiday season. Place flyers, hand out cards, or post on social media about your charitable efforts to show who will benefit from a customer’s purchase on Small Business Saturday.
- Use social media. Get the word out about your business participating in Small Business Saturday by utilizing social media. Post special promotions or offer rewards for loyalty members who shop by. If you’re posting on Twitter or Facebook, make sure to use the hashtag #ShopSmall or #SmallBusinessSaturday. Make sure to follow us, too, as we post some more tips on our Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn pages.
- Open your shop later. Whether you participate in Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, or both, you should consider opening your shop later. A survey showed that a large percentage of buyers actually prefer to shop after 10:00 AM to avoid the large crowds.
- Partner with other businesses. As a small business owner, your store may not provide a customer’s entire shopping list for the holidays. Also, as a small business owner, you probably know other community business owners in the neighborhood better than anyone else. Consider partnering with a nearby business on a cross-promotional deal. This way other customers can engage with your business and provide you a new clientele for being associated with another community business.
Are you participating in Small Business Saturday? Are you shopping small this year? We’d like to know! Join in on the conversation with us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
If you want to learn more about how Gravity supports small businesses like yours, give us a call at 866-701-4700 or contact our Support Team.
