Saturday, November 30th marked the third annual Small Business Saturday, a day for consumers to support local businesses at the start of the holiday shopping season.
This year, shoppers spent $5.7 billion at local businesses on Small Business Saturday – a 3.6 percent increase from 2012 revenue.
While Black Friday and Cyber Monday are well-known days for retail, Small Business Saturday has struggled in past years to gather attention. With the help of social media, awareness of Small Business Saturday increased this year.
Shoppers and business alike were encouraged to share their Small BusinessSaturday plans using the hashtags #SmallBizSat and #ShopSmall, and customers used Foursquare to “check in” at their local businesses to receive recommendations for nearby participating shops and restaurants.
In part because of this additional online awareness, consumer research released earlier this week shows that familiarity with Small Business Saturday increased across the United States from 67 to 71 percent in the last year. More than half of those aware of Small Business Saturday made purchases at their local businesses.
Thriving small businesses across the country are essential for our nation’s economic growth. 23 million American small businesses have been responsible for 66 percent of all net new jobs since the 1970s and account for 54 percent of all sales within the country.
As Small Business Saturday continues to generate more support each year, administration officials joined Americans from across the country in supporting the local businesses that are the backbone of our economy.
Check out the Storify from the White House to see photos from 2013 Small Business Saturday.