Small business owners in the U.K. will be getting Small Business Saturday in their country this year. British businesses and shoppers will see their own version of the highly-popular event that has resulted in over $5 billion in sales for small businesses in the United States last year alone.
Small Business Saturday U.K. will be held on December 7, 2013.
Shadow Business Secretary Chukka Umunna has been a champion of the event in the United Kingdom. Small business retailers there, like many in the U.S., have fallen on tougher times. According to a report from the U.K. news outlet The Independent:
The UK version will be launched against the backdrop of a traumatic time for many retailers in town centres, where an average of one in seven shops is empty after a series of failures over the past five years.
Mr Umunna said: “I want to make Small Business Saturday a reality in Britain to actively champion, celebrate and showcase small, independent businesses on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.”
The initiative in the U.K. is being backed by seven influential business groups. Backers include the British Chambers of Commerce, Federation of Small Businesses, The Association of Convenience Stores, British Independent Retailers Association, Forum of Private Business, the National Federation of Retail Newsagents and the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association.
Small Business Saturday in the U.S. is held the Saturday after Black Friday. The concept and creation of Small Business Saturday may be a source of debate. But it came into the limelight in the United States when American Express picked up on the trend in 2010 and began promoting it heavily around the holiday shopping season. The Small Business Administratin (SBA) also supports it. Small Business Saturday in the U.S. now has hundreds of supporters including cities, states, chambers of commerce, small business advocacy groups, high profile public officials, and large brands like FedEx.
Small Business Saturday in the United States has become a major movement active year round. It now has its own website at ShopSmall.com — and its own Twittter handle (@shopsmall) and hashtag (#shopsmall). It also has its own Facebook page with over 3 million Likes, with conversation quite active all throughout the year.
In the United States Small Business Saturday will be held November 30, 2013.
Marion Leadbetter
Im really excited by this, though its a shame we have to wait until December, but living in a town where the high street is dying slowly but surely the more help and resources available to small businesses the better!
Very cool. I’d love to see this catch on worldwide…on more days than of the year too.