Small Business Saturday — 4 Ways to Set Your Merchants Up for Success

1) Offer the Payment Solutions Modern Customers Want

Convenience and speed are the two most important things consumers look for in a payments experience. Allowing customers to checkout and pay quickly while using the method of their choice (and with as little friction as possible,) is a huge part of creating a good shopping experience — especially during busy holiday sales when customers already dread crowded stores, long lines and longer waits. 

With so much competition during the holiday sales weekend, merchants that deliver poorly optimized payment experiences are likely to find themselves losing out on sales to competitors that can do it better.

Unfortunately for small merchants, they’re by far the most likely to have outdated and under-optimized checkout systems. As a payment provider, one of the most important things you can do to help your merchants make Small Business Saturday a success is to ensure they have the payment options necessary to minimize lines and maximize convenience. 

From contactless payment terminals and mobile systems that make any part of the store a checkout, to advanced payment options like Buy Now, Pay Later at the point-of-sale, the more options you can equip your merchants with, the smoother their holiday weekend will be. 

2) Enable Omnichannel Selling to Give Customers More Choice

When people imagine a “local business,” many automatically think of a brick-and-mortar store. But, while in-store sales are still the bread and butter of most local mom-and-pop shops, there’s no reason today’s small retailers can’t benefit from a well-orchestrated omnichannel strategy. 

During highly-competitive times like cyber week, retailers that offer more channels have a huge advantage over competitors that force customers to shop the old fashioned way. That makes omnichannel selling one of the keys to succeeding on Small Business Saturday. 

By turning communication channels like websites and social media profiles into sales channels, small merchants can accomplish a number of important goals:

• Give customers more choice and control over how and where they shop
• Reduce in-store congestion — an important factor for local stores with a small footprint
• Shorten the time from interest to purchase to drive up revenue and capture more sales

As a payment provider, your role is to ensure merchants have the integrations they need to seamlessly merge in-store sales with other channels. In addition to an online gateway, services like text-to-pay links, QR codes, accounting integrations and one-click checkouts can all offer a huge boost to merchants looking to sell across more channels.

3) Make Small Business Saturday An Event Worth Advertising

Helping your merchants promote Small Business Saturday in their local communities is a great way to raise awareness around the event. For instance, consider putting together an email series or mailer educating your merchants about the opportunities Small Business Saturday offers them, and encourage them to make it as big a part of their sales mix as Black Friday or Cyber Monday. 

Some of the things you can encourage small merchants to do to boost traffic and sales include:

• Offer exclusive deals: One of the most important things your merchants can do is to limit some of their best sales to Small Business Saturday. With bigger competitors prioritizing Black Friday and Cyber Monday, scheduling exclusive deals for Saturday can be a great way to capture business from shoppers looking to avoid the big crowds
• Make it an event: In addition to sales, merchants can draw in more shoppers by running customer appreciation events. Encourage nearby merchants to band together to help draw the community out with things like food, drinks and entertainment
• Extend hours: Extended hours give customers more opportunities to shop in-store. By closing later during important sales holidays, merchants can create a sense of novelty that makes sales events more accessible and fun
• Invest in local advertising: If ever there was a good reason to send out flyers, it’s Small Business Saturday! Encourage your merchants to plan their sales well in advance so they can advertise their best deals in the weeks leading up to the holidays

Remember, getting local communities excited about Shop Small benefits local businesses, everywhere. According to our research, consumers feel a greater sense of belonging, satisfaction and pride when they support small businesses, with 78% going so far as to say that they would consider paying higher prices for items if it meant keeping a small business open. 

This year, Small Business Saturday should be looked at not only as an opportunity to boost revenue, but as a chance to get a bigger message out, as well. 

4) Accept American Express to Maximize Opportunities

Since 2010, American Express has been the driving force behind Small Business Saturday, and each year it promotes the event and offers a number of benefits to merchants that accept Amex cards.

This year, Amex is offering merchants a variety of discounts on select services, free marketing materials such as signs and digital assets, and a spotlight on their virtual Shop Small map. The company also announced it will be donating $1 from every eligible purchase to support recovery efforts for small businesses impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Check out the Shop Small merchant portal for more resources your merchants can tap into.  

Consumers are eager to shop at small businesses for the holidays, with 87% of our survey respondents saying that gifts from small, local businesses are more thoughtful than gifts from major retailers.

To get the most out of Small Business Saturday, you’ll need to ensure your merchants are set up to accept American Express. With NMI, you can offer merchants everything they need to start taking Amex cards in-store, on the web and anywhere else they sell. To find out more about how easy it is to get them started, reach out to a member of our team.