First, I included details on Small Business Saturday in my "Holiday Happenings" email that went out to the people on my mailing list. I included a link to register the American Express card for the $25 statement credit and announced a 20% discount for the day (for all customers). As a result of that email, we had our first "pre-shopping" for Small Business Saturday! One of my customers had been eying a dress and uses her AmEx regularly. She contacted me and asked me to hold it for her so she could get it on Small Business Saturday and get the discount and the credit! A win-win for everyone!
When Saturday came, it was much colder than Black Friday had been and very gloomy. I wasn't sure how many customers we would have and even said as much to Tara. Much to our surprise, we were steadily busy throughout the day and customers were delighted with the 20% discount.
My favorite story of the day was a couple who came back on Saturday who had briefly stopped in the store on Friday late in the day. The husband said to me "After we looked around and said good-bye, you gave us a look like "I know you'll be back!" And here we are! " (Please note I have no idea what sort of look I had on my face after being up since 3:15 am on Friday morning!) But I was delighted they came back to shop with us.
American Express does a great job of advertising Small Business Saturday. I appreciate that they offer their customers this incentive without passing the cost along to the merchant (don't worry - we pay plenty to accept AmEx on any given day). When we totalled the day, I had almost tripled the total from last year! What a great surprise, especially considering the weather!
Way to go! Always nice to see an improvement from last year.
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