This year’s Small Business Saturday achieved record spending across the UK, estimated to have topped £748 million.
According to an American Express survey conducted in the 48 hours following the fifth annual shopping event, where shoppers were encouraged to support their local small businesses, spend jumped four per cent this year.
This was aided by an 87 per cent backing from local authorities, up from 80 per cent a year earlier.
Furthermore, 56 per cent of customers who were surveyed said they spent more than usual on the day and over 115,000 tweets were published about the event, trending at number one in the UK.
The event occurs on the first weekend of December, thought to be one of the busiest weekends of the year.
Notable figures and organisations including London Mayor Sadiq Kahn, Alexa Chung, the Federation of Small Businesses and Enterprise Nation also pledged their support for Small Business Saturday.
“In its fifth year, Small Business Saturday has once again seen a boost in spending with Britain’s small independent businesses,” Small Business Saturday campaign director Michelle Ovens said.
“There’s been a phenomenal response from small businesses in communities across the UK again this year so it’s fantastic that a record amount was spent with them this Small Business Saturday.”
Owner of Anstruther, an independent luxury candle store, Jo MacFarlane added: “The Small Business Saturday campaign has made such a big difference for us.
“It was such a special day this year, with so many local businesses involved and customers responding by shopping with us, in what has become a fantastic tradition at the start of the Christmas period.
“It’s a wonderful grassroots initiative that has been hugely successful in celebrating small businesses and it’s certainly attracted new shoppers and boosted sales.”
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