Holiday shopping season starts with $5.5 billion small biz spree

Brad Dorsey

< 1 min read ·

SHARE

Consumers spent $59.1 billion over the Black Friday weekend. Less than 10 percent of that went to the small businesses that represent more than 95 percent of all retailers, according to the National Retail Federation.

Nevertheless, the National Federation of Independent Businesses reports that the holiday shopping season is off to an auspicious start for small business. A survey released today by NFIB and American Express reports that consumer awareness of Small Business Saturday jumped to 67 percent from 34 percent just two weeks ago, contributing to $5.5 billion in spending with independent merchants on November 24. The figure is $100,000 more than predicted by pre-holiday surveys.

This weekend's was the third annual Small Business Saturday. According to NFIB's national survey of 1,000 men and women conducted on Saturday and Sunday, nearly half of those aware of the event shopped on Saturday.

NFIB CEO Dan Danner said in a statement that support of small firms, retailers, restaurants, and other independent businesses "is one important way to ensure our economy fully recovers and a healthy private sector is restored."

It's one thing politicians can agree on. On Saturday, the Senate passed a resolution with 45 bi-partisan co-sponsors declaring November 24, 2012, Small Business Saturday, while elected officials in all 50 states and Washington, DC, championed the event by shopping local.

Brad Dorsey