American Express’ latest Shop Small campaign urges shoppers to do their Christmas shopping with small businesses this year to help accelerate their recovery. If each person purchased a $100 gift at a small business, it would deliver an additional $2 billion boost to the sector.
This rally for support comes as newly appointed festival director of Sydney’s light extravaganza, Vivid, Gill Minervini, creates festive window displays in three small businesses, bringing joy to local communities and foot traffic into stores.
New research by American Express shows that shoppers are intending to dig deep this Christmas to potentially spend, on average, $220 per gift. If this happened, and just one of these gifts was purchased at small businesses, a potential $4.4 billion would make its way to the sector.
In a sign of just how critical the festive trading period will be for small business operators, the research shows it will be make-or-break for nearly one third (30%) of Australian small businesses. These operators say that without strong sales they won’t survive. Another 38% say that weak sales will force their hand at having to make serious changes to their business.
“Having parents who owned a small business myself and seeing just how hard they worked to make it a success, I’m proud to be part of a campaign that encourages support for the sector at a critical time of year, as not many people have had it tougher than small business owners lately,” Minervini says.
“In working with each business, I’ve brought to life their story in a way that reflects the spirit of the season and showcases a great range of Christmas gifts available in-store. Each small business owner told me it was largely down to the support of their local community that has kept them operating, so the hope is that these window displays will act as a small ‘thank you’ by bringing joy to those who see them as well as more shoppers to the local area.”
American Express vice president of small merchants, Lisa Belcher says, “Our research shows that almost one third (31%) of Australian owned and operated small businesses say that this year’s Covid crisis has been the hardest period their business has ever endured. Compared to last year, average sales are down 35% and operators are pulling out all the stops to make this Christmas successful. We launched Shop Small in Australia in 2013 and this annual call for support for small businesses has never been more important.”
She adds, “For this year’s campaign, we were inspired by the spectacular window displays traditionally seen in larger retailers around the world. On a slightly smaller scale, we are delivering the same level of delight and magic to local communities but most importantly bringing customers, ready to spend, through the doors of small businesses.”
The research reveals that because of the pandemic, 23% of Australians have shopped more with small businesses. Of these, nearly seven in ten (69%) say they want their money to contribute to small business’ survival, a third (35%) say it makes them feel good to support small businesses and another 35% say they enjoy the personal experience.
The research also indicates that those small businesses that focus on providing a great Christmas range for shoppers (50%), those that embrace the festive spirit (23%) and offer complimentary gift wrapping (20%), have a good chance of encouraging store visits.
To incentivise its Card Members to spend, American Express has a special Shop Small offer. American Express Card Members who first save this offer to their eligible Card, will get three extra points per dollar spent with participating small businesses until 31 March 2022, in-store or online, up to 40,000 extra points. American Express will showcase the story of the festive windows in a series of videos highlighting the businesses who are featured in the campaign.