NEW YORK—Chances are, you or someone you know is already gearing up for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. But in-between those two major shopping holidays is another: Small Business Saturday. Championing small businesses across the U.S., Small Business Saturday is headed up by American Express, who put together an annual collection of resources for both shoppers and business owners. For shoppers, Small Business Saturday offers an interactive map to help find local small businesses, as well as resources that explain the impact shopping small can have. For businesses, there’s even more to offer.

On the Small Business Saturday website, business owners can find resources to help them advertise Small Business Saturday, an information ebook to help encourage customers to shop small safely, savings on shipping, cleaning and customer connection services, and more. This year, Small Business Saturday has also made an effort to support Black-owned businesses, including Coco and Breezy, who are featured on the website’s homepage and will be participating in a specially curated holiday collection with Showfields.

No matter how you plan to get involved—selling, shopping, or both—there’s no question that, this year, supporting small businesses is more important than ever.



Coco and Breezy are featured on the Small Business Saturday homepage, and will take part in a specially curated holiday collection with Showfields. Image via Small Business Saturday. 



Small Business Saturday offers free downloadable assets to help small businesses promote the special day. Gail Correale, OD, who practices in Westbury, New York, did exactly that. Image via gailcorreale.od on Instagram.

 

The Shop Small initiative has long supported small eyewear brands, including Genusee, which was featured on their Instagram page in July of this year. Image via shopsmall on Instagram.



Other ECPs are getting involved by supporting local small businesses. The team at Binyon Vision in Bellingham, Washington, ran a Thanksgiving giveaway where patients entered to win by commenting their favorite locally owned restaurants for takeout. Image via binyonvision on Instagram.  


The Small Business Saturday team also underscored the importance of social media presence and interaction for small businesses. On Instagram they reported that social media recommendations can be worth up to $197 billion for the U.S. small business economy—the perfect push to shout out your favorite small business online, or boost up your Instagram presence starting this Saturday. Image via shopsmall on Instagram.


 The Small Business Saturday website also features free downloadable marketing materials, including flyers and social media posts. Image via Small Business Saturday.