Small Business Saturday Map, Marketing Materials Available

Small Business Saturday (SBS), on November 30 this year, gives independent businesses the opportunity to compete with the rush to big-box and online retailers at the start of the holiday shopping season. Initiated by American Express in 2010 as a way to encourage spending at small, locally owned businesses over the Thanksgiving weekend, SBS has since grown into a highly successful, nationally recognized event.

To make the most of Small Business Saturday, booksellers are encouraged put their stores on the map by registering their businesses on the American Express Small Business Saturday website. This way, potential customers can easily locate indie stores. The website also provides businesses with free marketing materials, including signage templates, sample social media posts and e-mails, and digital banners and logos.

Last year, the millions of consumers who shopped or ate at small businesses on SBS spent $5.5 billion that one day. Additionally, the number of corporations actively promoting SBS grew from 75 in 2011 to 155 in 2012, and even more are expected to encourage local shopping this year. And word spread quickly through social media sites last year, as more than 3.2 million Facebook users “liked” the SBS page and nearly 213,000 tweets were sent in support of Small Business Saturday during the month of November.

For booksellers, Small Business Saturday has even more significance. That’s the day ABA member booksellers can begin offering customers an “extra” on their choice of titles from this year’s Thanks for Shopping Indie multi-publisher promotion. And it’s also the day that authors who signed on for Indies First, the grassroots movement started by Sherman Alexie, will be volunteering at bookstores throughout the country. For those who wish to participate in either event, it’s not too late to sign up.

ABA member booksellers can learn more and sign up for Thanks for Shopping Indie here (a Bookweb user name and password is required).

Booksellers and authors who want to join the Indies First movement can indicate their interest here; however, it is a grassroots movement, so after signing on, authors are encouraged to reach out to their local bookstores and bookstores should reach out to local authors to make their own arrangements.