A new survey from Lending Tree takes a look at how Americans will shop this weekend after the rush of Black Friday. It finds nearly half plan to support local businesses in their area as part of Small Business Saturday.
After the Great Recession, American Express launched Small Business Saturday in 2010 to encourage consumers to do their after-Thanksgiving holiday shopping with small businesses. The newest LendingTree survey shows that nearly half of Americans will shop on Small Business Saturday (Nov. 27) this year, with an average expected spend of $305.
Full survey findings: https://www.lendingtree.com/business/small/small-business-saturday-survey/.
Key findings:
Most consumers (63%) say the coronavirus pandemic strengthened their loyalty to small businesses.
22% of Americans — and 38% of Gen Zers, in particular — intentionally shop at minority-owned businesses more often than they did before the pandemic.
Nearly 2 in 3 (63%) Americans know a small business in their community that permanently closed due to the pandemic.
Consumers are more likely to shop small in-person than online, and 57% believe online retailers like Amazon hurt local businesses.
LendingTree chief credit analyst Matt Schulz believes the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic is playing a role in this desire to shop small.
“Many of these local businesses were in real danger during the pandemic, in large part because they didn’t have the resources that large national chains had to ride out the storm,” Schulz says. “Many didn’t make it, and that’s a real shame.”
