In 2010, American Express became a founding partner of a movement known as Small Business Saturday. The day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday) and the following Monday (Cyber Monday) serve as the traditional kick off to the holiday shopping season. Falling between those two days, Small Business Saturday was created to help small business with one of their biggest needs – getting more customers. The first-ever Small Business Saturday was held on November 27, 2010, starting a new holiday shopping tradition. The following year, the day became more official, gaining support from all levels of elected officials. According to American Express and the National Federation of Independent Business, shoppers spent an estimated $5.5 billion and $5.7 billion at small independent businesses on Small Business Saturday in 2012 and 2013, respectively. And of course social media plays a big part in inspiring consumers to shop local. The official Facebook page has over 3.3 million likes and the Twitter page has almost 37K followers.

To learn more or to download free promotional materials provided by American Express, visit the official Small Business Saturday website here.