An annual campaign designed to support small businesses will once again take place in December following a successful inaugural year.
Small Business Saturday will take place on Saturday 6 December with the aim of encouraging businesses and consumers to support local small businesses.
The non-commercial, non-political campaign began in the US, founded by American Express in 2010, which continues to support the UK equivalent.
Research undertaken by American Express in the 24 hours following the first UK event, showed it was a huge success with 48 percent of UK consumers aware of the day, with 57 percent of those shopping at local, independently owned businesses.
For the inaugural Small Business Saturday in 2013, Senior politicians led by the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, Ed Miliband; Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne; Secretary of State for Business, Vince Cable; Chuka Umunna, the Shadow Business Secretary and Matthew Hancock, the Minister of State for Skills and Enterprise, all took to the streets to encourage consumers to ‘shop local’ and support small businesses.
A recent launch event for the 2014 campaign at the British Library brought together a number of small businesses that participated in last year’s event.
Isabel Oswell, head of business and research audiences at the British Library said: “We’re delighted to be supporting Small Business Saturday in the UK. SMEs are the lifeblood of the economy and it’s important to encourage people to support their local independent businesses. At the Centre we’re passionate about helping people to launch and grow their business, with free access to essential information, as well as practical workshops and advice. We’ll be encouraging all of our users to make the most of this year’s Small Business Saturday.”
