Small Business Saturday this year is November 26 and in advance of it, SalesFuel is releasing its free white paper “Small Business Saturday Shoppers 2016: Helping Small Businesses Compete with Big-Box and Online Giants.” In it, SalesFuel uses data from its 2016 AudienceSCAN® survey to offer small businesses helpful direction for taking full advantage of Small Business Saturday.
AudienceSCAN surveyed nearly 16,000 consumers 18+ in the United States and the data found can help businesses prepare this year’s marketing and business strategies going into Small Business Saturday. The research comes at a critical time when big box retailers are shifting gears dramatically, trending toward adding mini-stores and encroaching further into locally-owned business territory.
“In addition to the ongoing competitive threat from online retailers, Target’s CEO recently announced they’re opening mini-stores in high-density cities and college towns to capture millennials and increase their localism with tailored stock”, says SalesFuel CEO C. Lee Smith. “SalesFuel’s purchase intent data and marketing recommendations in this free white paper will help small businesses position themselves this holiday to better counter these threats and drive revenue.”
This year’s data shows that 23% of U.S. adults shopped at a locally owned business on Small Business Saturday. This demonstrates a negligible drop from 23.5% in the 2015 AudienceSCAN survey. A bigger dip occurs, however, when we look at 2014 data – when 28.7% of Americans said they shopped small. That’s a nearly 20% drop in two years. The research also shows small businesses are missing opportunities to not only participate in this holiday-shopping day, but also formulate bullseye strategies to promote their participation.
Other key data points in the paper include:
- Differentiate by high service levels. Customers just need a refresher on why they love to walk into a local store and be greeted warmly by their neighbor. Consumers need to remember that they rely on in-person conversations with industry and retail experts for gift ideas and product advice. Small Business Saturday shoppers know your value. It’s small businesses’ job, and that of their agents, to get back in front of customers by knowing their value.
- Hot item categories this year include antique dealers, audio shops and spas/salons.
- Small businesses offering consumer services most definitely should take a more active role in Small Business Saturday, and the Shop Small movement in general.
- Advertise NOW so customers can plan and not spend all their budgets on Black Friday.
- Digital/Online buying strategies are key. A solid 24.9% of your SBS shoppers are aged 25 to 34. You just need to spend more time and effort marketing to them online, and reaching the Y Generation on their smartphones! AudienceSCAN research revealed they are 57% more likely than average shoppers to take action from an ad on a social network.
FOR ALL THE INFO, DOWNLOAD THE WHITE PAPER HERE: http://salesfuel.com/small-business-saturday2016/
About the annual AudienceSCAN survey
From February 17 through March 14, 2016, SalesFuel surveyed an online consumer panel of 15,906 adults in a manner that is 95% representative of the adult population of the United States. 13,309 adults fully completed the AudienceSCAN survey. The margin of error for this study is +/- 0.85 percentage points. The margin of error in segments representing those with particular interests or attitudes will be higher. All online survey interviewees were screened to identify and verify user information, location and demographics and to delete all duplicate/multiple entries. The survey respondents were controlled by geographic region, age, race, income, marital status, presence of children in the household and gender to more accurately reflect the adult population of the United States
FIRM DESCRIPTION
ABOUT AUDIENCESCAN
AudienceSCAN’s purchase intent specifically highlights consumers who are taking action within the next year. This year, SalesFuel added 74 new profiles to its research database, including 66 audience profiles and 16 new Purchase Intent shopper profiles this year. This year’s survey also adds two New Chain + Franchise Customer Profiles, bringing the total to 265 different chain/franchise profiles.
AudienceSCAN research now features nearly 1,400 total audiences, including a new category, somewhat surprising in this hot election year—the “Politically Disinterested”.
AudienceSCAN data is available through the SalesFuel API, AdMall for Media, AdMall for Agencies or our custom guided sales apps for vertical sales. Dashboard Datasets are also available for marketers to use in their business dashboards.
In addition, free daily briefings are available through the SalesFuel mobile app for Apple iOS, Google Android and Amazon Fire, as well as the SalesFuel Today email.
SalesFuel
SalesFuel provides more than 3,000 sales teams nationwide with “The Power to Sell Smarter” through its unique portfolio of sales tools, training and intelligence. This empowers sales teams to provide value-first to their accounts, stand out from their competition and attract a higher level of talent and clientele.
SalesFuel is best known for its AdMall® product line for media sales and agency new business hunters and its AudienceSCAN® line of marketing research and customer purchase intent data. The company’s current core products also include the SalesFuel API as well as Gitomer Certified Sales Training. SalesFuel’s consulting partners can provide assistance with strategic planning, pricing models, compensation/incentive programs and digital marketing.
Thought leadership is delivered free-of-charge through the firm’s many white papers and daily sales briefings at SalesFuel.com. SalesFuel also produces the MediaSalesToday.com e-publication, which is updated several times daily for media sales professionals across North America.
For more information, visit our website at www.salesfuel.com.
SOCIAL MEDIA
- Twitter: @salesfuel
- Facebook: facebook.com/salesfuel
- Video Channel: vimeo.com/salesfuel
- LinkedIn Company Page: linkedin.com/company/sales-fuel
