Holly Tucker MBE, entrepreneur and author, is campaigning to get everyone in the UK to buy one more … [+]
Holly Tucker has had a busy day – speaking via video call about her latest research on how the UK plans to shop this Christmas, on the same day she announces the short list for the Holly & Co Independent Awards. Now in their second year, the awards celebrate the best of the UK’s vibrant small businesses.
For many in this community, the entrepreneur and author is seen as their head cheerleader. After co-founding the online marketplace notonthehighstreet.com in 2006, the platform has grown to support thousands of small business owners. In 2017, she founded Holly & Co, a small business advice and inspiration platform designed to support the nation’s entrepreneurs.
With the impact of the pandemic still resonating through the small business community, that support is still very much needed. Tucker, who describes her life mission as “helping the public see the uniqueness of small businesses”, explains how over nearly half of those she surveyed said they were worried about surviving past Christmas.
To better understand the economic landscape, she has commissioned a survey of 2,000 UK adults (who celebrate Christmas) to “take the temperature” of people’s perception of the independent businesses she champions.
The numbers are encouraging – showing a huge appetite to shop small, with over 90% of the adults polled saying that they care about the future of small independent businesses in the UK. But caring about the future is not enough by itself, which is why Tucker has launched her “Campaign Shop Independent” to encourage customers to think about the impact of their spending, showcasing the difference that even one extra gift could make.
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“If everyone bought one more Christmas gift from an independent business this year, just one, we’d reallocate a vital $3.6 billion pounds between all of us,” she explains.
“That money would go to the half of all small businesses at risk of closure and would really give them a fighting chance.”
Black Friday losing its lustre
The culmination of Campaign Shop Independent is her indie-alternative to Black Friday, named Colour Friday, on Friday 26th November.
“It’s gone nuts,” she says. “We’re showing that there’s a substitute to the endless discounts of Black Friday, giving a brand a name to the alternative choice and showing how independent businesses bring colour to grey.”
Colour Friday comes at a pivotal time when evidence suggests that the customer is beginning to tire of Black Friday rhetoric. Tucker elaborates: “42% of those we surveyed stated that Black Friday is just large retailers trying to make money out of us, and 26% felt that it’s full of tat.” In comparison, shopping from a small business feels less “vacuous” she claims.
Asking the customer to buy just one more gift from a small business is, in fact, asking them to more fully engage in behaviour that they are already exhibiting. Those surveyed already plan to buy almost a third (32.13%) of their Christmas gifts from small independent businesses, with 17% buying over half. Good news for the Shop Independent campaign and the goal of reallocating $3.6 billion.
“People got a taste for shopping small during the pandemic” explains Tucker. “During that initial stage of lockdown, we turned to small businesses. We didn’t turn to the Amazons of the world, we turned to people who crafted a dish or a beautiful handmade card, or we sent parcels from the butchers. The small businesses were the facilitators of the nation’s love”.
Independents need to respond
But despite this strong sentiment of support for small businesses, the numbers of businesses closing or fearing closure suggest that more needs to be done by the businesses themselves in order to attract a customer who is willing to purchase from them. Tucker wants to see them “become more empowered and confident in telling the story, the origination of their idea, the benefits.”
“I will speak to a ceramicist, who will make three mugs for every mug she sells, because maybe one or two might break in the kiln” she describes. “No one actually realises that’s the craft, the talent and the sacrifice that goes into creating something unique. And so from a small business point of view, the key is sharing their story and bringing people along for the ride.”
She goes on to describe how the customer is “looking for brands that touch our hearts” and that success for small businesses is based on “loyal, firm customers.”
“I talk to them about getting friends, not people who walk past, and that’s how we should think of our customers. And that’s really what Black Friday promotes – tonnes of people passing you by, who aren’t there for the long term of your business.”
Small is the new big
So what’s ahead for 2022? According to Tucker, “2022 and beyond could become the epic years for small business if people continue their shopping habits. We also are already seeing evidence of big brands joining the call to support small independents – Dell Technologies, NatWest and Royal Mail are backing this year’s campaign.”
“The way forward is small business – small is the new big” she says, with high streets “paving the way for independent and experiential businesses that are going to bring colour to grey. Think instore artists, exercise bike pop-ups and donut collaborations. We want to see home towns, not clone towns”.
“I think that human-ness is the future for the high street and online,” she elaborates. “Connection and community will be the key to survival. Small businesses are going to have their moment. And I think this is where the larger brands will struggle, because they don’t necessarily have a purpose to exist.”
Driving this movement will be the increasing numbers of people looking to become entrepreneurs. More than 400,000 people have set up their own companies since the start of 2021. “We’re going to have this moment where more people than ever want to start a small business” she outlines. “Based on the research into the number of people dreaming of starting a business, and those planning on leaving their jobs, 2 million women over the next 3 years are going to be starting their own business”.
This vision, while attractive, still relies on the customer getting behind the small businesses that 90% of those surveyed say that they care about. Tucker’s message for those supporters? “We do have the power to save small UK businesses at risk of closure – all it takes is one more gift and voting with our money for the sort of world that we want to live in.”
