Small Business Saturday – the campaign that promotes the UK’s five million small businesses – has announced that it will return for its fifth anniversary on December 2nd.
Last year an estimated £717 million was spent with small businesses during the event, and that total has risen by 53 per cent – or £249 million – since the first campaign in 2013.
According to the event’s organisers, hundreds of thousands of small firms, four in every five local authorities and millions of consumers get involved every year.
“Over the last five years, Small Business Saturday has had a tangible economic impact on small businesses around the country,” said Michelle Ovens MBE, director of Small Business Saturday UK, as the 2017 event was announced.
“We have a growing and highly engaged network of small business owners who recognise the benefit of getting involved and making Small Business Saturday work for their own companies and in their own communities.
“Our aim this year is to get even more businesses around the UK to experience that effect.”
The original US Small Business Saturday was founded by American Express in 2010, and the firm has remained a key supporter of the campaign as it has grown across the Atlantic.
The event is also supported by PRS for Music, Dropbox and Mercedes Benz Vans and also benefits from the backing of leading business organisations including the Federation of Small Businesses and Enterprise Nation.
2016’s Small Business Saturday received local authorities’ support, ranging from small business events to free parking to encourage customers to visit small shops.
The event attracted more than 130,000 tweets and reached 140 million people as it became the number one trending topic on Twitter in the UK and number five globally.
Alongside the main event on December 2nd, the campaign will be running Inspire – a series of workshops for existing and prospective small business owners.
For more information, see the Small Business Saturday website.
