What Is Small Business Saturday?
Small Business Saturday is a shopping holiday held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  It falls between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  Small Business Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to patronize brick and mortar businesses that are small and local.

Small Business Saturday was started by American Express in 2010.  The first Small Business Saturday was observed on 27 November 2010.

How Can Small Businesses Benefit From Small Business Saturday?
Small businesses can use this event as an opportunity to get customers in the door.  Use it to bring in new customers as well as returning customers.

Small Business Saturday is a growing phenomenon with over 500,000 small businesses participating last year which attracted over 100 million consumers.  In November of 2012 shoppers spent $5.5 billion at small businesses on Small Business Saturday according to a survey released by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) and American Express.

As more people become aware of it and the event grows so too will the revenues of small businesses.

What Can You Do To Take Advantage Of This Opportunity?
There are a number of things you can do to get customers in the door.  They include the following:

1.  Team up:  Work with other local businesses to promote the event.  You can do this in person or you can use the American Express website to reach out to groups of other small businesses.

2.  Promote The Event:  Promote the event through inexpensive marketing methods such as on Facebook, Twitter (use hash tags #smallbizsat, #Smallbizsaturday, #shopsmall) Pinterest, Youtube, email, flyers, posting signs in your shop window, etc.  Convince the local media to provide free announcements.  Visit the American Express website to get free promotional material.

Follow Small Business Week on


3.  Provide Incentives:  Get customers in the door by offering incentives.  Incentives could include, free parking, discounts, buy one get one free, special prizes the first x number of customers, etc.

4.  Prepare For The Next Event:  Get your customers permission for you to inform them of the next event.  Ask for their contact information (email or address).  Offer them special incentives the next time around for agreeing to be contacted.