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8 ways you can ‘Shop With Meaning’ this Christmas
Oct 20This Christmas, we’re making it our mission to encourage people to ‘Shop With Meaning’. What that means is to think thoughtfully not just about what you’re buying but who you’re buying from. It means no matter how many presents you’d like to buy, thoughtful is always better than more. With the news pretty depressing (understatement!), we wanted to spread some positivity and share the ways you can ‘Shop With Meaning’ this Christmas. Scroll down for how you can get involved in our Christmas mission to support and shout about small businesses far and wide…
Shop early, don’t wait
Starting your Christmas shopping early is never a bad thing. We may have a thing for organisation, but shopping early doesn’t just benefit you, it helps small businesses financially and is much better than an influx of orders over a very short period. You can also feel super smug that you have started ticking off your list and less panicked as the big day approaches.
Shop with conscience
Think about what you’re buying and who you’re buying it from. Just one gift from a small business this Christmas can make a massive difference. You might not realise it at the time but that can be all the power needed to keep a small businesses thriving. Small businesses typically tend to have small carbon footprints too – so you’re doing more good deeds than you might realise.
Know thoughtful gifts are better than more
Less is more! We’re big believers that just one thoughtful gift is much better than lots of gifts under the tree. Not only does it put less pressure on you this Christmas, putting that extra thought into your gift is something money cannot buy.
Make small your first port of call
Fun fact: If 10% of the people buy just one item for £10 from small businesses this Christmas, that’ll boost the UK economy by over £50 million. It’s the small changes that we can all make that have the biggest impact, so when you’re next shopping from a small business, realise you are part of something bigger!
Find it local and locally sourced
We get it, sometimes when you have a specific gift in mind, it’s almost too easy to head straight to Amazon or other big retailers, but by spending just a few more minutes seeing if you can get that item or something similar locally, it’ll make a massive difference to your local and small businesses when you choose to support them instead.
Practise kindness and patience
It’s cool to be kind! It’s important to remember smaller and larger businesses alike are dealing with the knock-on effect of the pandemic and are still muddling through supply-chain issues and delays. There are real people behind the scenes so treating someone with a little kindness costs nothing, and can have a huge impact on someone’s entire day.
Support using your voice if you can’t with your wallet
Did you 93% of customers read online reviews before making a purchase?! That many! You don’t have to spend money to support your small and local businesses, leaving a positive review on Trustpilot, google or their own social media channels can trigger other people to purchase too, instilling trust and authenticity.
Realise it all makes a difference
If you ever think ‘my one small purchase won’t make a difference’ let us tell you now…you are wrong! The smallest purchase can make the biggest difference to a small business. It might not seem like much to you, but that’s exactly what keeps small businesses thriving. Go you!
If you love the idea of shopping with meaning and want to help us on our mission, here’s how you can get involved…
1. Nominate a business or sign up yourself to our Shop With Meaning Directory here! We are pulling together a list of businesses to help you find some brilliant places to shop this Christmas.
2. Look out for our Small Business Gift Guide, which we’ll be pulling together from the businesses above – again you can nominate via this form!
3. Share your own posts on social media with the hashtag #letsshopwithmeaning to help customers find your lovely things!
Let’s get something positive on Twitter for once! On Friday 28th October share your own small business OR how you will be shopping this year using the hashtag #letsshopwithmeaning and let’s see if we can get trending!
We hope this has inspired you to either continue supporting your local and small businesses, or to think differently about how you’ll be shopping. Let’s all shop thoughtfully, shop small, and shop with meaning this Christmas.
P.S. Want to check out our very own Christmas shop, filled with thoughtful gifts? You can find it here!
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