A new study has shown that almost half of Brits (42%) have vowed to shop at small or independent businesses this Christmas – this is more compared to previous years and a promising sign of customers knowing the value of shopping locally.
From the study results, the main factor in the motivation to shop more locally is purely an effort to support independent businesses, also to save money and to get better quality goods and services. You can read more results from the study here by Nucleus Commercial Finance.
This comes as organisations representing small businesses are urging shoppers to buy from local businesses if they want to guarantee getting Christmas gifts on time. The advice comes in the midst of postal strikes by Royal Mail this winter which have led to a backlog of parcels and letters – potentially not arriving in time for Christmas. On top of this are also train strikes which is making shoppers focus more on the shops closest to them.
Our friends at the Booksellers Association mentioned that the uncertainty around parcel delivery dates was likely to push people into shops to get their Christmas gifts.
“This could have the positive consequence of creating more traffic on High Streets and more footfall for bricks-and-mortar retailers,” said Meryl Halls, managing director of the group.
“If the silver lining from the very challenging situation around Royal Mail strikes does help produce busy local High Streets this Christmas, many bookshops will be pleased to welcome the increased traffic.”
You can read more about this story on the BBC.
We always say it’s best to buy closer to home – it’s better in terms of service, the local economy and also the environment. So why not do your last minute Christmas shopping on your local high street.
This week we have been sharing our Christmas Manifesto, broken down into separate posts for social media – feel free to print this out or share the images online. You can find all the relevant files —–> here.