For retailers, it’s not just another day at the office. In 2019, consumers spent some $ 142 billion on Black Friday, which was topped by 2020 revenue of $188.2 billion. Black Friday’s younger cousin Cyber Monday has a much smaller sales share with “only” $10.8 billion in sales in 2020.
But what we want to focus on today is small business Saturday. Small business Saturday was actually launched by American Express in 2010 during the Great Recession. Its purpose was to encourage consumers to shop local, to patronize the small businesses in their communities. The Small Business Administration estimates that Small Business Saturday more than edged out Cyber Monday with consumer spending of nearly $20 billion last year, with $.67 of each dollar remaining in the community.
As online sales have increased, the pressure on smaller retail businesses to achieve substantial holiday sales numbers has also grown.
