What is Small Business Saturday?

Small Business Saturday UK is a non-for-profit campaign which encourages consumers to 'shop small' supporting the 5.6 million small businesses across the country.

The day itself takes place on the first Saturday in December each year in the run up to Christmas (i.e. 7th December 2019), but the campaign aims to have a lasting impact on small businesses of all types - online, in offices and in stores - highlighting their success all year round.

Originally founded by American Express in the U.S. in 2010, Small Business Saturday has still American Express as the principal supporter of the UK campaign through its success.

In its seventh year in the UK, the campaign has in fact grown significantly each year with an estimated £812m spent in small businesses across the UK on 2018’s Small Business Saturday – an 8% increase on 2017.

Hay Hampers joins Small Business Saturday

Hay Hampers has been taking part to Small Business Saturday UK since the very beginning in 2013, accepting an invitation from American Express.

Gabriele Da Re, Managing Director at Hay Hampers comments:

“We are proud supporters of this campaign because we believe that small businesses play a critical role in communities, over and above financial performance. They are the heart of the UK’s economy, which needs to be supported now more than ever in these uncertain times of Brexit”.

According to a report conducted by peak b, it is clear that through hiring practices, flexibility, time and money donated to the local community and environmental care, communities are receiving vast amounts of irreplaceable support from small businesses across the UK. For instance, small businesses value the time they spend supporting their local community at £3,240 per year.

80% of small businesses offer flexibility giving immense intangible value to staff, with 86% saying it helps work-life balance. It is not just flexibility, but also in recruitment that small businesses are making their mark. Businesses such as Hay Hampers with more than one member of staff, are highly likely to hire someone further away from the labour market – such as returners, those over 65 or those with mental or physical issues. This is creating value in a number of ways: reducing the welfare bill, reducing local unemployment and increasing spending locally as well as the positive impact on local health.

Small businesses are also making big strides in supporting a clean local environment. For instance, a significant 75% are working on reducing waste for instance.

All these features, which apply to the majority of small businesses, also reflect what our family-owned company Hay Hampers has been doing for the last decades.