The Shop Small campaign gained strong publicity through its innovative launch this a few years ago at the Bondi outdoor ocean swimming pool. It has now become a seemingly annual event – usually held in November in Australia.
It’s a terrific initiative for small businesses but is driven by one of the world’s biggest – American Express.
Small businesses can register during November and promote their business online – providing great exposure to the customers who search for local shops and businesses to support.
There’s just one catch – you need to be an American Express merchant (and have your merchant number handy). You can register your business for free and easily and you’ll be added to their search functionality.
What you could get out of it
Shop Small has been slowly building momentum since its launch a few years ago. Here are some of our thoughts on why it might be worth exploring for your business.
Consider it as a potential opportunity to:
- entice more customers to visit your business – you get on a funky interactive Shop Small map to help local customers find you! Bonus!
- give back to any existing customers who may use American Express – as they get savings too.
- access some free promo as American Express sends communications direct to card members in your area.
The idea definitely has legs and the momentum from being driven by such a large organisation with a large budget means that it is likely to be quite a success…for those able to support the campaign.
If you can’t take advantage of this event, consider other options to help support local community shopping!