| Small Business Saturday | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Observed by | United States |
| Celebrations | Shopping |
| Date | Saturday afterU.S. Thanksgiving |
| 2024 date | November 30 (2024-11-30) |
| 2025 date | November 29 (2025-11-29) |
| 2026 date | November 28 (2026-11-28) |
| 2027 date | November 27 (2027-11-27) |
| Frequency | annual |
| Related to | Thanksgiving,Black Friday,Buy Nothing Day,Super Saturday (Panic Saturday),Cyber Monday,Green Monday,Giving Tuesday, andEconomics of Christmas |
Small Business Saturday is a marketing initiative created and promoted byAmerican Express to encourage holiday shopping on the Saturday afterThanksgiving in the United States, during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year. This Saturday is always the last one in November, so it falls between November 24 and November 30.
First observed in the United States on November 27, 2010, Small Business Saturday is a counterpart toBlack Friday andCyber Monday, which featurebig box retail ande-commerce stores respectively. By contrast, Small Business Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to patronizebrick and mortar businesses that aresmall andlocal.Small Business Saturday is a registered trademark of American Express.[1]
The first event was created by American Express, in partnership with the non-profitNational Trust for Historic Preservation, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, and Roslindale Village Main Street. In 2010, the holiday was promoted byAmerican Express via a nationwide radio and televisionadvertising campaign. That year Amex boughtadvertising inventory onFacebook, which it in turn gave to its smallmerchant account holders,[2] and also gave rebates to new customers to promote the event.[3][4]
American Express publicized the initiative usingsocial media, advertising, andpublic relations. Many local politicians and small business groups in the United States issued proclamations concerning the campaign,[5][6] which generated more than one million Facebook "like" registrations and nearly 30,000 tweets under theTwitter hashtags #smallbusinesssaturday and #smallbizsaturday.[7]
TheTwitter hashtag #SmallBusinessSaturday has existed since early 2010 and was used to promote small businesses on any Saturday (not solely that Saturday between Black Friday and Cyber Monday). The hashtag is used in a manner similar to #FollowFriday to highlight favorite local businesses. Additionally, some small business owners have run marketing specials on the November Small Business Saturday to help capitalize on the boost in foot or online traffic, as most customers[citation needed] in this time period are actively shopping for the holidays.
Small Business Saturday UK began in the United Kingdom in 2013 after the success of Small Business Saturday in the United States of America.[8]
