SACRAMENTO, Calif., Nov. 23, 2021—The state’s leading small-business association today encouraged all Californians to reserve some of their holiday shopping time and money for Small Business Saturday, November 27, the day after Black Friday and two days before Cyber Monday.
“For obvious reasons, these past two years have been brutal on small businesses,” said John Kabateck, California state director for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), America’s largest small-business association. “Our state and federal governments have done all they can with loans, and even loan forgiveness, now it’s up to us. If we can hear a chorus of cash registers ringing up sales along our Main Streets on Small Business Saturday, it would be the sweetest music heard in a long time and a great start to 2022.
“We have the means. Pew Research recently reported that California had the second-fastest growth in total personal income since the pandemic, and when it compared the second quarter of this year with the second quarter of 2020, we were the only state to record growth. Let this coming Small Business Saturday be the tide lifting all boats out of the pandemic’s dirty waters.”
Kabateck detailed some of the struggles small-business owners are facing that they haven’t in the past:
- In its latest Jobs Report, released this month, NFIB recorded 49% of its membership reporting job openings they could not fill despite the record high in pay they were offering.
- Also, this month, NFIB released the latest findings of its special COVID-19 polls showing 62% of small-business owners saying supply-chain disruptions are worse now than three months ago and 90% expecting the problem to continue for the next five months or longer.
- Equally troubling, NFIB’s Small Business Economic Trends report found the percentage of small-business owners expecting better business conditions falling four points to a net negative 37%. This indicator has declined 17 points over the past three months to its lowest level since November 2012.
- As U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said at a recent Fed Listens session. “I’ve never seen these kinds of supply-chain issues, never seen an economy that combines drastic labor shortages with lots of unemployed people.”
Kabateck will be available for comment on Small Business Saturday at 916-956-9027, [email protected]
Quick Facts
- Established during the recession by American Express in 2010 and officially co-sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration since 2011, fully 70% of consumers are now aware of Small Business Saturday, according to a 2019 Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey by AMEX and NFIB.
- Shoppers at independent retailers and restaurants that day in 2019 spent an estimated $19.6 billion—but that was pre-pandemic.
- In 2020, when some thought the 2019 numbers couldn’t be matched, spending increased to $19.8 billion. “Many small businesses pivoted to selling online or through social media platforms to stay connected with customers throughout the pandemic, and these efforts appear to have paid off, with 56% of Small Business Saturday shoppers reporting they shopped online with a small business on the day, an increase from 43% in 2019,” reported AMEX. “In addition, small business owners rolled out a variety of giveaways and special offerings to consumers, a smart strategy as 43% of consumers reported that they took advantage of special offers or promotions from small businesses on the day.”
- Last week, the research firm Morning Consult found, “Almost 4 in 10 U.S. consumers say they will do the majority of their holiday shopping online: Another 36% plan to evenly split their holiday shopping between stores and online. Only 1 in 4 consumers will do the majority of their holiday shopping in stores.
- “About 50% of those who have started shopping have faced supply chain issues. These include items being out of stock online (48%), in store (48%) or back-ordered or delayed (46%).”
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For 78 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven association. Since its founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.
NFIB California
915 L. Street, Suite C-411
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-448-9904
www.nfib.com/CA
Twitter: @NFIB_CA
Facebook: @NFIB.CA
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