Today is ‘Small Business Saturday’ in the UK, a holiday aimed at promoting the success of small businesses by calling for shoppers to steer clear of the big commercials names.
The grassroots effort takes place on the first Saturday of December every year, with the intention of raising the profile of local and independent businesses in communities across the UK.
The first Small Business Saturday took place on 7 December 2013, and has since continued every year.
No doubt encouraging to small business owners, the British Twittershpere is alive with supportive calls for the special day, including from the country’s leading political parties.
We’re cutting taxes for small businesses. #SmallBizSatUK #SmallBusinessSaturday pic.twitter.com/GC3JdHgdm9
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) 7 December 2019
Labour will
— Rebecca Long-Bailey (@RLong_Bailey) 7 December 2019
✅Create a Business Development Agency to support SMEs
✅Stamp out late payments
✅Reform business rates
✅Provide free full fibre broadband to all business premises
✅Stop quarterly reporting for small biz#SmallBusinessSaturday #SmallBizSatUK
Today is #SmallBusinessSaturday I’ll be visiting Fort William and supporting the @FSB_Scotland call to #BuyLocal https://t.co/xWfqkMcPn4
— John Erskine (@johnerskine) 7 December 2019
🏬 Colleagues from across South Lanarkshire have come together on #SmallBusinessSaturday to make clear our opposition to reckless Tory & Labour plans which would lead to the loss of £11,484,000 worth of funding for 4,400 local businesses.#ProtectOurBusinesses pic.twitter.com/Sj6MYGs37r
— Christina McKelvie (@ChristinaSNP) 7 December 2019
when you support small business you're supporting a dream ❤️! #SmallBusinessSaturday pic.twitter.com/82Fn1aQoIG
— Rukundo parfait (@IamRukundo) 7 December 2019
I run a small business specialising in ethical travel to developing nations. I started it because I'm sick of the exploitation of people, wildlife & the planet + the corporate greed that runs through the industry@UKLabour get this & back small business. #SmallBusinessSaturday
— Jack D 🌹 (@JackDunc1) 7 December 2019
Proud to be the son of a Small Business owner! #SmallBusinessSaturday https://t.co/S0r9wFoA4N
— Charlie (@charliepv97) 7 December 2019
Happy #SmallBusinessSaturday. I love you and I love crisps 😘 pic.twitter.com/QPJIaRersV
— Sugar & Sloth (@sugarandsloth) 7 December 2019
While some sceptics may ask of the day really does anything to bolster the success of local and small businesses, a study in 2016 - the first of its kind - demonstrated that consumers spent £717 million with independent businesses on Small Business Saturday of that year. 2017 was then said to be the most impactful, with an estimated £748 million spent.
