Good news for small and minority-owned businesses
By Gabrielle Bienasz |
Small and minority-owned businesses had a brutal year and a half; a new survey shows that consumers around the world — especially younger ones — tried to help out.
Marketing and research firms Sendinblue and Cite Research — based respectively in Paris and Raleigh, North Carolina — released the results of an online poll of 4,199 global consumers taken in June 2021, showing that consumers are prioritizing buying from smaller and minority-owned businesses.
Forty-four percent of total respondents said they worked harder to shop small than before the pandemic, and 31% of U.S. consumers said they purchased more from minority-owned businesses in the past 12 months. And younger people powered the trend, the survey says: Fortysix percent of the Generation-Z consumers and 51% of the Millennials surveyed said they increased small-business buys.
Of those who said they tried to shop more with minority-owned outfits, African American consumers were the most likely to report having done so intentionally. That was followed by U.S. consumers overall and high-income shoppers.
The top driver globally for people who bought more from small businesses was “contributing to the local economy,” followed by feeling a greater bond with small businesses.
Whether the affected businesses did anything special to appeal to consumers is unclear, though the study showed that those deploying marketing communications via email fared well. While Generation-Z consumers tended to prefer Instagram, 27% of people reported using email more frequently during the global health crisis. Consumers further reported their top desired feature for small-business e-commerce is free shipping, followed by a wider selection.
Those gains are likely to stay intact going forward.
About half of those who had purchased more from minority-owned businesses said they planned to spend more in the future. More than half of those who bought more at small businesses said they would increase those behaviors while shopping in the physical world.
Gabrielle Bienasz is an editorial assistant at Inc. Magazine.
My column on grandparents showering the grandkids with toys, clothes, and so many other material gifts drew a slew of responses — mostly upbeat suggestions on how to avoid overindulging.
One of my intentions in writing that column was to remind readers that hefty spending is not always healthy, and can lead to competition between family members, especially if two sets of grandparents are involved.
As a member of the grandparent’s club, I wrote that I could now more clearly understand how much gratification grandparents receive from buying stuff for the grandparents. But they also need to keep the gift-giving under control. It’s challenging.
“Grandparents have been on both sides of your topic, once as a parent who may have been upset with the amount of grandparent gifting and now as a grandparent who wants to indulge,” wrote Sue Heaney.
“It’s easy to think one way without experiencing another, and maybe that is the biggest problem with our society in general today,” she wrote. “This can apply to so much of how people talk about issues without personal knowledge.”
Other readers talked about how the pandemic lockdown of the past year prompted them to tighten their belts and restrain from overspending on the grandkids. Now that conditions are returning to normal, they’re looking forward to family gatherings with the young ones. But in lieu of shopping trips, they’re looking at visiting the zoo, going to ball games, or a special day at the museum.
Indeed, if there was one loud and clear message from grandparents, it was this: The gift of “experiences” and one-onone time with a grandchild is far more precious than showering the child with “stuff.”
“My mother had mountains of wrapped gifts for her grandchildren at Christmas,” wrote Sue Seper. “It was excessive and likely more for her than the kids. There was no reasoning with her.”
“When my, now adult, children talk about my mom,” Seper added, “they don’t remember all that stuff,” Seper wrote. “What they do remember are experiences — taking bread to feed the ducks, making malts in her kitchen, having sleepovers, watching Walker Texas Ranger ... Spending time and making memories are far more important and provide great life lessons for all of us.”
My wife and I recently spent two weeks of vacation with our two granddaughters — a three-month-old and a two-year-old. No, they won’t remember anything about the time we spent together on the swing set, digging in the sandbox, hunting for pennies, or taking long stroller rides looking for deer, but it was pure grandparent joy.
Even grandparents who don’t live close to a grandchild have options other than gifts of toys and clothing, several readers noted, such as adding to a 529 college savings account, paying for a month of piano lessons or karate, a week at summer camp, or a family membership to a children’s museum.
Judy Bishop wrote that she tries to “control being competitive with her sonsin-law” when it comes to buying gifts for the grandchildren. One solution she offered: “One holiday I included a ‘certificate’ for an outing of their choice. I listed a variety of Chicago touristy places to visit. With three children, their parents and myself that could get pricey for them, but (it was) a joy for me — and them.”
And from Ruth Ann Eyer, who has six granddaughters. “Buying stuff is only one way of showing love,” said Eyer. “Mature love involves words of affirmation, spending time with each other, giving a helping hand when needed, empathy and giving a hug.”
I’m with Ruth!