PwC have forecast that we will spend £20billion on Christmas and Black Friday
So, it’s vital we remember to support small businesses when most of them have had a very difficult time since the pandemic struck..
5 Reasons to Support Small Businesses in Your Area:
1. Research says every £1 you spend with a small business translates to £1.60 of benefit to your local economy. The money you spend with that business is more likely to be recirculated locally with suppliers and paying employees who will also spend that money again locally
2. Small businesses are more likely to be registered and pay taxes in your own country, benefiting the economy wherever in the world you are.
3. Did you know that companies like Apple, Facebook, Google etc pay an effective tax rate (ETR) of just 1.5%?
4. A typical UK independent retail store will pay around 19% in taxes (Corporation Tax) and up to 40% for sole traders!
5. Fact - Small businesses (less than 10 employees) make up 96% of the UK workforce and contributed £217bn to the UK economy in 2020.
Black Friday: What’s It All About?
Black Friday‘s roots are absolutely an American “thing“ though it has since spread worldwide by canny retailers to encourage greater pre-Christmas spending.
It’s not an official holiday in the United States but some states - including California - observe the day after Thanksgiving as a holiday for public sector employees.
The first day after Thanksgiving marks the unofficial beginning of the Christmas shopping season and Black Friday offers seems to be available over several weeks not just on 1 particular day.
St Nicholas’ Christmas fair in York (the old one) runs from the middle of November up until the 23rd December and people come from literally all over the world (Covid permitting) to visit the fair.
There will be lots of arts and craftspeople selling everything from sustainable Christmas wreaths, a million (sic) kinds of Gin and I have to say the aroma of freshly cooked street food is heavenly.
Add to that a beautiful lighting display and it really is a one-of-a-kind experience guaranteed to get you in the festive mood. After the lockdown Christmas we had at short notice last year, don’t we all deserve an especially festive one this year?
Also, last year because we were in lockdown for so much of it, we were forced to shop online, meaning that those very small businesses that have been unable to “pivot” have been even more difficult to support, so this year it’s even more important to get out there and support those businesses.
Having said that, small retail businesses need to offer something more, a different buying experience, perhaps a bit of theatre, visually enticing and engaging product displays that make you want to reach out and touch those products.
Small Retailers need to give customers a different, tactile, even a theatrical shopping experience
That’s the only way small, independent shops can survive is to differentiate themselves from the buying experience that they offer versus the online giants like Amazon, eBay and Argos (the ancient Greek God of online shopping)
If any of this resonates with you or you'd like to know more about our sales services, email keith@salesmarvel.co.uk