Small Business Saturday: The Best for Pets

Since the mid-1960s large shops and businesses across the world have been putting on sales and discounting their products and services for the now-infamous Black Friday. However, as we've highlighted before Black Friday isn't all as it seems, with most “discounted products” available during the year for the same or a cheaper price than they are on this cleverly marketed day. 

However, since the early nineties, there has been a much-needed backlash and a series of anti-movements to counteract the avarice forged in the fires of Black Friday. These include Green Friday, which is a way to highlight activities and products that are sustainable and good for the planet, and Small Business Saturday, a day for supporting small businesses in your communities.

If you’d like to learn a little more about Green Friday we have an excellent post here> that will give you the lowdown on what it is all about and how you can take part.

In today's post, we will be focusing on Small Business Saturday and why it is so important to support small businesses in your area and beyond, why small businesses are the way to build a more inclusive economy and how we can all get involved, this year. 

What is a Small Business

According to the FSB (The Federation of Small Businesses), a small business is any business that has fewer than 49 employees. This accounts for 99.2% of all businesses in the UK and if you include businesses with fewer than 249 employees, known as SMEs (small to medium-sized enterprises), this shoots up to 99.9% of all businesses across the country. 

But Why Should We Support Small Businesses?

Despite the fact that these small to medium-sized businesses seem to have the market covered, this 99.9% of businesses, the SMEs, only account for 52% of total turnover. Meaning the remaining 48% of turnover (well over £2 Trillion) is controlled by just 0.01% of the market. Despite controlling 48% of all the money that is made in the country, these large businesses only account for around 39% of total employment.

These figures show us something that we probably already knew in some way, that big business isn't good for the general populous. They also don't take into account that many of these larger businesses are the worst when it comes to giving back. In 2019 Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, eBay, Adobe and Cisco collectively avoided paying over £1.5 Billion in taxation, enough to fund 40,000 full-time NHS nurses!

And that’s not to mention the well-documented problems that companies like Amazon, Gap and Apple have had with their records on the treatment of people who work for them.

Why Small Business Saturday?

Despite the fact that Small Business Saturday was first promoted on a wide scale by American Express, a company well known for shady business practices, the idea behind it is solid. “Small Business Saturday UK is a grassroots, non-commercial campaign, which highlights small business success and encourages consumers to shop locally”. 

Despite the fact that Small Business Saturday is ‘celebrated’ on the 3rd of December this year, we think it’s prudent to be highlighting it now as an alternative to the furore that surrounds Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Many small businesses will be offering discounts over the weekend for Green or Black Friday and showing support for them in this economically difficult time could be all the difference to them. After all, Jeff Bezos does not need any more cash in his pockets! 

The Pets Larder - A Small Cornish Business

The reason we feel so strongly about supporting small businesses is that we know how much it means! At The Pets Larder we employ 5 staff members from the local area and our business was started in our living room, here in St. Erth, 5 years ago! Thanks to the support of all of our lovely customers we are still able to provide the pets of Cornwall and beyond the very best natural foods, treats and chews we can, based on our expert knowledge. We started TPL because we love animals, no more, no less. 

As we have grown we have also been able to support a number of small businesses that make many of the products we stock and produce, we know that small businesses are far more likely to have the needs of your precious pets at heart rather than that of their shareholders!             

So, as the madness of the next few weeks comes in the shape of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the other somewhat sinister marketing ploys that are undertaken at this time of year, why not spare a minute to think of the small businesses that are the backbone of the British economy and use your valuable time and money to support them instead.