American Express is partnering with video-hosting service TikTok to help small businesses increase sales this year during Small Business Saturday.
Entering its 13th year, Small Business Saturday is a marketing initiative created and promoted by AMEX to encourage holiday shopping the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The small business initiative is in the middle of two major shopping periods: Black Friday on Nov. 25 and Cyber Monday on Nov. 28.
According to Forbes, the new partnership aims to drive $100 billion in reported consumer spending to small businesses through 2025. AMEX believes, according to their 2022 American Express Shop Small Impact Study, that reaching the next generation of shoppers via social media on a popular platform like TikTok would provide essential help to small businesses. The study revealed that 63% of small business owners want to focus on growing their Gen Z and millennial customer bases this holiday season.
One of these efforts began Nov. 14 as AMEX included an offer for eligible small business owners to earn a $100 TikTok advertising credit a part of the #ShopSmall Accelerator initiative. In addition, eligible small business owners will be given resource tools on how their businesses can stand out on the social media platform.
“Shopping small has a significant impact on helping local communities, with two-thirds of every dollar spent at small businesses staying within the local community,” Elizabeth Rutledge, chief marketing officer of American Express, said in a interview with Business Wire.
“Last year, consumers reported spending more than $23 billion shopping small on Small Business Saturday, and we want to exceed that in 2022.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many small business owners turned to social media as a reliable way to connect with their customer base when in-person transactions and interactions were not an option.
Forbes also reported that the AMEX study showed 72% of small business owners are concerned about the impact of inflation.
The #ShopSmall Accelerator and other Small Business Saturday marketing initiatives help address the challenges for these businesses when competing with larger retailers.