National Survey on Independent Business Shows Sales Way Up for Cities with Buy Local Organizations

The National Retail Federation reported a $4 billion spike in consumer spending at the beginning of the Holiday Season this year, but very few of those goods were actually made in America.  NPR reported this discrepancy in a Marketplace story in Nov. 2010, when they talked to Michael Mandel, the editor in chief at Visible Economy, who argued that “holiday spending is largely for things that will worsen the trade deficit, add to our debt overseas and create bigger problems in the future.”

The answer?  Shop Local–as local as possible:  local food, local goods, and local charities, supporting local jobs, local entrepreneurs, the local economy, and the quality of life we all enjoy in Bloomington.  These kinds of businesses often sell items of higher quality that the recipients will keep around their houses a lot longer.  All across America, people are doing just that, and there are numbers to show for it!

A National survey conducted by the National Institute for Self Reliance, a nonprofit research and educational organization, demonstrates that having a Buy Local organization makes a big difference in spending habits for the communities they serve.  The 2011 Independent Business Survey gathered financial data from 2,768 businesses from across the U.S., including Bloomington.

Findings:

• Places with a “buy local” initiative reported revenue growth of 5.6% on average in 2010, compared to 2.1% for those without one.
• Those in “buy local” communities saw a 5.2% increase in holiday sales, while those elsewhere reported an average gain of 0.8%.   This is up considerably since last year, when businesses in “buy local” communities saw a 3% increase, while those without saw only 1%.
• Nearly two-thirds of respondents said that public awareness of the benefits of supporting locally owned businesses had increased in the last year, while 24% said it had stayed the same and only 3% said it had decreased.
• 45% of businesses reported that the campaign had brought new customers to their business
• 55% said the Buy Local Campaign increased the loyalty of existing customers 
• 68% said that the campaign led to an increase in local media coverage of independent businesses
• 51% said that the campaign made local government officials more aware and supportive of the needs of independent businesses.
• 49% said it had led to more collaboration, purchasing, and mutual support among local businesses

Over 500 respondents volunteered concerns in the surveys, with three major concerns popping up over and over again:

• The weak economy
• The growth of online shopping
• Government policies that favor their competitors, such as rules exempting large online sellers from having to collect state and local sales taxes, as local retailers must.

 Bloomington businesses had the opportunity to participate in the survey as well, though the response rate was not the amount we needed to get the statistics for our area.  However, we got some great feedback from some well-loved stores in our city.  Michelle Giansante, owner of Melody Music Shop had this to say about their sales over the last year: 

 ”We celebrated our one year anniversary in October of last year, and along with the 2010 holiday season, we couldn’t have asked for a better first year for our shop! We have increased from 12 to over 20 instructors, increased from 50 to over 100 lesson customers, featured 13 concerts on our back deck for over 180 audience members of all ages, rented out over 300 instruments, and did a quarter million in sales, all with taking on no debt! We are so happy to have such support from the community!”

 Ruth Conway, from the By Hand Gallery, said that the Holiday Season was good.  They have a lot of loyal customers who make a point of buying locally handmade work, and several of them told Ruth and her manager both that they were making conscious decisions to shop locally.  “I think that more and more people are now realizing the value of buying local and also buying the work of people that they know or who they have met. We have always had some of this but it seems to be getting better these days.”

The 2011 Independent Retail Study by the Institute for Self Reliance: http://www.newrules.org/sites/newrules.org/files/2011-ind-business-survey.pdf

  Story by Una Winterman, Founder, Local First Indiana