This blog is the first of an ongoing series of featured
posts on Shop Local initiatives around the country. The objective of this series to outline the
benefits and challenges of current Shop Local efforts as we consider
alternatives to expand successful, but limited, initiatives such as Shop Small
Saturday. Our first post, Why Shop
Local, serves as a primer for our future posts by first outlining the economic
impact of local shopping.
Shopping is intrinsically local. eMarketer estimates that a relatively small
portion of retail sales – roughly 7.1% in 2015 – will take place online. So when people think of Shop Local they
usually think about shopping at any nearby store and buying products within the
city itself.
Shop Local, however, is more than that. Shop Local is about supporting the small businesses that make up the majority of economic activity within a city. According to the Andersonville Study of Retail economics, small businesses generate almost 70% of local economic activity. Without spending at these businesses, the local economy would fall. The disadvantages for the city are depicted in the graphic below.
Shop Local, however, is more than that. Shop Local is about supporting the small businesses that make up the majority of economic activity within a city. According to the Andersonville Study of Retail economics, small businesses generate almost 70% of local economic activity. Without spending at these businesses, the local economy would fall. The disadvantages for the city are depicted in the graphic below.
Source:
Localfirst.com
The majority of money spent at small businesses flows back into the local community. According
to the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA), every dollar spent at a
local independent merchant generates 3.5 times as much wealth in the
local economy as a dollar spent at a chain-owned business. The
reason behind this is that as local businesses become more successful they
create more jobs within the community in the form of suppliers, distributers,
and more.
There are more than 28.2
million businesses operating in the United States, according to a 2014 article in Forbes Magazine. Sixty-three percent of the new jobs created between 1993 and 2013 were from small businesses.
Small businesses have a great impact on the number of jobs created within a local community. Some may say that larger and
more established stores can create more jobs in an instant, however,
consequently they can also lay off a large amount of workers at a single notice
without any consideration. Local stores on the other hand are much more
considerate as they are run by locals from the community.
In summary, local businesses provide a large amount of economical benefit to the society and we should work hard to support them in every way. They create and sustain many jobs for the community while also giving back in many, many ways. Get out there and shop local.
Sources:
#shoplocal #pixiboard
About
the Authors
Sean
Brown is the Founder of Pixiboard and an advocate for making local
commerce safe, easy and seamless for buyers and sellers alike.
Barisa
Abidin is a marketing intern at Pixiboard and a senior at University of San
Francisco.
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