A How-To Guide on Ways to Support Small Businesses This Holiday Season

his holiday season is going to look very different, especially for small businesses. This COVID-19 pandemic era is going to make shopping a drastically different experience than previous holiday seasons, because of certain restrictions put in place to protect shoppers. However, this can result in shoppers being deterred from shopping at small businesses due to fears of exposure, but the COVID-19 epidemic should not discourage you from helping out your local establishments. So, if you are feeling inclined to help out the various small businesses surrounding your town or city this year during the holidays, then this helpful guide is just for you! This guide will inform you about what actions to take, or what things to consider, while shopping with small businesses. In addition, this guide will even help you out on how to find small businesses in your area that you can support and even promote. Now without further ado, let's get started on giving a helpful hand!

Here are some general tips about supporting small businesses during the 2020 holidays:

• Check the websites of small businesses in your area to see if they have options for shopping online or for curbside pickup, so that you can get what you need without making contact with a lot of people.
• Call ahead to ask about the best times to shop, since going out during slow times can limit your contact with other customers. In addition, if you shop during less busy hours, you will receive better customer service from employees who will not be distracted with trying to adhere to COVID-19 restrictions while working.
• Spread your shopping out, and start your holiday shopping as early as possible. If you start your holiday shopping early and shop a little bit at a time, then you can ease the burden on your wallet a bit. This will be because you will then be focused on buying more specific items at businesses solely dedicated to those items (read small businesses), rather than roaming around in malls and buying anything that catches your fancy in the moment. In addition, you will be more relaxed and able to enjoy the holiday festivities!
• Be considerate and think twice about how you order takeout, or delivery of any sort of product from small businesses. If you do not need to use a delivery app, then consider asking for curbside pickup. This is because sites like Grubhub, Instacart, UberEats, and Shipt charge types of fees that can typically reduce the net profit of small businesses.

• You can bolster the presence of a small business on social media by “liking” various small businesses on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, writing positive reviews, generously posting photos of purchases, and tagging small businesses that you have visited and have had positive experiences with. You can even go one step further and become part of community email lists and social media groups like Nextdoor.
• Try to make your philanthropic efforts stronger by incorporating, and thereby helping out, small businesses into your activities whenever possible during this particular holiday season. For instance, you can order meals for essential workers from local restaurants, shop at independent clothing stores when you are buying for clothing drives, or purchase produce from local food markets for food drives.
• Even though you may always look for discounts whenever you are shopping, take a moment to realize that maybe now may not be the appropriate time to apply discounts on your purchases during this particular holiday season. Try as much as possible to pay the full price when shopping at a small business. 
• If possible, it would be very thoughtful of you to offer your professional skills, especially if you are an accountant, a banker, a lawyer, automation specialist, or a digital marketing specialist, to name just a few, to local businesses in order to bolster the presence and endurance of small businesses in your area.
• Give emotional support to the proprietors of small businesses, especially ones that are experiencing immeasurable, and maybe even existential, pressures, that you visit by asking retailers how they are holding up under the COVID-19 pandemic conditions and inquiring after any employees who may now be unemployed.
• Finally, it may be enticing for you to just cozy up in your favorite armchair or sofa or bed and take your laptop or tablet or smartphone and just buy whatever you need or desire with just a click or tap. However, shopping with humongous online businesses like Amazon will reroute your spending outside of your local economy, so it would be really beneficial for you to take out the time to change out of your SpongeBob SquarePants pajamas and make your way to your favorite small business, even if it is just for curbside pickup. Just the fact that you made the effort to shop at that small, local establishment will lift the spirits of those working there.

Next, here are some quick tips on finding small businesses in your area, if word of mouth is not sufficient for you, due to factors like a limited social circle, relocation to a new area, or efforts to expand shopping options:

• It would be best to begin any preliminary searches for small businesses in your area with your preferred search engine. 
• You can check social media to locate any small businesses in your area. Quite a few small businesses have created pages on Facebook, Instagram or any other mediums of social media to market themselves. Also, the special thing about social media is that when you are on social media like Instagram or Facebook, you can browse some select products right away on or connect almost immediately with a small business’s platform, therefore getting a sense of what services certain small businesses can offer. Finally, in this COVID-19 pandemic era, social media can be helpful in finding out the most up-to-date information about small businesses in your area concerning hours of operation, restrictions, or safety protocols that small businesses are observing.
• You can also search the website Yelp for specific types of small businesses in your area. In addition, on Yelp, you can easily check reviews and see whether people are having good experiences with those various small businesses. 
• You can even search Etsy, Redbubble, and Society6 for any goods produced and sold by independent artists.

• You can also support small businesses via Amazon. The company has an initiative called Support Small that spotlights small companies by providing directories of small businesses in your area that you can shop with. In addition, you can also buy hundreds of products from small businesses featured on the Amazon website and even take advantage of Amazon Prime and free shipping offers.
• If you want to support small businesses with your holiday shopping while also benefiting yourself or your family, consider getting a rewards credit card. You can earn points or cash back on spending and use those benefits to fund more holiday fun or future travel or spending.
• There are some websites specifically dedicated to finding small businesses. For instance, there is an entire site dedicated to Small Business Saturday, which locates small businesses near you. Then, there is another site that consists of a map of 100 Black-owned businesses that you can support found all around the country.
• You can even visit your local chamber of commerce, either digitally or in person, depending on your situation during the COVID-19 pandemic era. You can be provided a list of reputable local businesses by your chamber of commerce, and you can also call or speak to someone in person to inquire about small businesses that could cater to your specific needs.

This holiday season does not have to be completely dreary. This holiday season may seem depressing and unyielding, but you have it within you to bring some light and cheer to some people, like the employers and employees of small businesses.

Hero image courtesy of The Book Loft of German Village.