This year has brought us incredible adversity. If you own a business you’ve undoubtedly had to make some tough decisions to stay afloat.
However, it’s been incredible how consumers have rallied around small businesses in the middle of a pandemic.
It seems that mentality is ready to carry over in a big way.
Constant Contact put together a Small Business Pulse Report including responses from over 3,000 consumers and a few statistics stood out to us at 2oddballs.
Shoppers are ready to spend their money at small businesses this holiday season
During the COVID pandemic we saw the Springfield, Missouri community rally around its small businesses.
People were buying gift cards, taking advantage of curbside ordering, and whatever else they could do to try to keep their favorite locally-owned shops afloat.
It seems people still have that kind of mentality as we approach the holiday shopping season.
Over 70 percent of consumers polled in the Small Business Pulse Report said they have items on their shopping lists they plan on purchasing from a small business.
Even better news for local shop owners, 62 percent of people polled said they planned to visit a small business they’ve never been to before.
That doesn’t mean to lean back and wait for the masses to roll in, however.
Do what you can to stay front-of-mind so those who are willing to shop small this year don’t forget you.
Have a small marketing budget to work with? Try running Facebook ads. Even if you ran a cheap campaign for a short period of time, you can still have great success.
Social media advertising is a small biz favorite because of the targeting options and ability to run with small budgets.
For those with next to nothing to devote to marketing, you can simply post promotional content on your social media. Oh, by the way, you can boost some of the best-performing posts during that time for as little as $5 to get them in front of people who aren’t following your page.
Small businesses with a website will be the winners this fourth quarter
If you haven’t been prepping your business for e-commerce, you are greatly lowering your ceiling of success.
In the Small Business Pulse Report, only 10 percent said they needed to physically enter a building to purchase the items from their gift lists.
Meanwhile, Deloitte, a business financial firm, projected e-commerce sales this holiday retail season to increase 25 to 35% year-over-year. For reference, in 2019 it increased 14.7%.
Consumers, they say, have increasingly shown a clear movement towards shopping online rather than brick and mortar stores.
Furthermore, with the pandemic still ongoing (even with promises of a vaccine on the horizon), a good percentage of shoppers will still err on the side of caution with their health and avoid the large crowds.
If you can, it will be in the best interest of your business to get your business a custom website.
2oddballs is Springfield small businesses’ digital marketing partner
2oddballs Creative understands the struggles of a small business in Springfield, Missouri. How? Because we’re a small business too!
We are locally owned and operated. We grew up here.
Our team truly enjoys helping our clients and watching their businesses grow and thrive.
So, if you’re trying to capitalize on this holiday shopping outlook, or just trying to get your feet under you, give us a shout!
