Today (November 27, 2016) is Small Business Saturday, annually celebrated on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in the U.S. The day is intended to encourage American shoppers to consider small retailers and merchants as they think of their holiday shopping. It comes as an answer to the Friday after the U.S. Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November) called Black Friday and the following Monday called Cyber Monday. Both of those days have come to be associated with discounts and promotions at large retail chains and e-commerce websites.
Small Business Saturday is a promotional effort intended to encourage consumers to support local businesses that create jobs, boost local economies and preserve neighborhoods around the country.
A brief history of Small Business Saturday
Each year on the SmallBusiness.com WIKI, we have updated the progress of Small Business Saturday. Here is a timeline of some the ways the day has progressed over the few years.
2010 | Small Business Saturday was created and sponsored by American Express, who registered the URL SmallBusinessSaturday.com and registered the trademark for the term Small Business Saturday. The company also created a Facebook page supporting the event and promoted the event with national television advertising and a broad array of public relations activities. The event was inspired by the 3/50 Project that was created by Cinda Baxter, a small business advocate in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
As part of the 2010 promotion, the first 10,000 small business owners who signed up to participate received $100 worth of free Facebook advertising, and the first 200,000 American Express cardholders who pledged to use their credit cards on Nov. 27 to support small businesses received a $25 credit.
On the American Express website and Facebook page in 2010, credit was given also to the following co-sponsors and endorsers: American Express OPEN, The 3/50 Project, Business Matchmaking, Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau, Count Me In, Destination DC, E Women Network, Facebook, Girls Inc., Greater Boston Conventional & Visitors Bureau, LA Inc., NAWBO, National Trust for Historic Preservation's Main Street Center, NYC & Co., NYC Department of Small Business Services, San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau, SCORE, Women Impacting Public Policy, Women Presidents' Organization, Women's Leadership Exchange, Yelp.
2013 | Beginning in 2013, American Express began to use another trademarked advertising tag line, “Shop Small” in its Small Business Saturday promotions. The tag line enables the company to extend the marketing efforts surrounding Small Business Saturday into other parts of the year.
2014 | On the Small Business Saturday website in 2014, premiere sponsors were listed as FedEx, Four Square, Twitter and the U.S. Postal Service. A new promotional aspect of 2014 include an interactive map for participating businesses that accept American Express cards and a promotion that enabled American Express card holders to get three $10 credits (total, $30) for use at three small businesses that accept the American Express card.
2015 | American Express continued to support the promotion, but no other co-sponsors were listed on the website. In 2015, American Express also stopped providing the three $10 credits to card-holders. Also in 2015, American Express produced and ran TV and online commercials promoting Small Business Saturday featuring the Muppets.
Directory and map of participating small businesses
While any small business can participate in Small Business Saturday, American Express has an interactive directory of small businesses that can be searched by location. A link to it can be found here. The map and other American Express promotions are available only to small businesses that accept the American Express card.
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