Just four years ago, American Express started a program called Small Business Saturday — an effort that had enormous impact on the success of local retailers on the busy shopping weekend after Thanksgiving. According to the History of Shop Small on the American Express website, last year’s  consumer spending was an incredible $5.5 billion.

One retailer complained to me that they thought the day included too much self-promotion for American Express, to which I can only reply that they are not a non-profit — so it’s only natural that the company would want to get more retailers to accept American Express, and more shoppers to use American Express for smaller purchases, as a result.  But without their clout (and resources), Small Business Saturday would never have reached the impressive level of 67% consumer awareness by 2012.

The cornerstone of Small Business Saturday was American Express’s offer to give its cardholders a $25 credit for spending that amount or more on Small Business Saturday.  Preregistration is necessary for this part of the program, and there is a cap on the number of cardholders who can participate.  But Small Business Saturday now draws many customers who are not that interested in the $25, or are in fact not even American Express cardholders.

As independent retailers, it is up to us to promote to that segment of our customer base (the ones who sign up through American Express are obviously already onboard). A large part of the Small Business Saturday message has to do with the benefits of shopping locally, and this is an ideal opportunity to get this word out to the general public. But there is one awkward question about the day: should jump onboard if you don’t accept American Express? I guess my answer to that would be probably not, or at least not without making it clear that you can’t participate in the statement credit being offered by American Express.

Ultimately your Small Business Saturday success depends on your own promotion. American Express provides a page of Top Ten Tips that can be downloaded, and last year we even got a nifty welcome mat for free (shown in the photo above).  In addition to the tools provided by American Express, there is a free guide to Small Business Saturday that has been created by SnapRetail, and they have generously offered to let me share the link to this download with my readers.

It is true that American Express does have a higher processing fee on charge transactions. But in addition to Small Business Saturday, they have made small loans available to businesses in a time when credit is tight. They also provide seminars and resources for retailers through their OPEN forum.  And in these difficult times for independents, I think we need all the help we can get!

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder