It's Holly Tucker's Colour Friday on November 25th and we're celebrating by supporting small and independent businesses.
Holly is creating a small business movement on this day because:
In a recent poll, half of UK small business owners said they’re genuinely concerned that this will be their last Christmas trading?¹
Carbon emissions generated from Black Friday online sales alone are equivalent to 215 flights from London to Sydney?²
89% of shoppers reported finding Black Friday highly stressful?³
A quarter of Brits surveyed said they regretted their Christmas Black Friday buys?⁴
Source: 1. Sky News small business report 2.Money.co.uk report into ‘dirty delivery’ 3 & 4. Idealo Black Friday survey
She says:
On 25th November, vote with your money for the kind of world you want to live in. Shop with independent businesses and choose gifts made to last, not gifts made for landfill.
With all this in mind I decided to add my own thoughts and write a little post about why there's so much more to your order than you can imagine. I wanted to share with you every good thing that happens when you shop independent!
You bring joy with EVERY order!
Every order means a lot. It means we can create lots of lovely new things with heart and meaning. It pays our bills, it feeds us - yes it means all that serious stuff too!
We love to see what you choose. Opening up an order alert or email is always full of excited suspense! What did you choose? Where is the product going? I never get tired of this feeling.
It's an incredible feeling when you buy something we've created. It still blows my mind when I think about my cards in peoples houses and that they represent some pretty big occasions in peoples lives - I'll always treasure that amazing feeling.
You know who you are buying from
You see my face, glimpses of my family life. That's who is behind this company. We're not a logo, not a customer service line. We get to recognise repeat customers and some have even become friends!
The designs and products you purchase are unique
Everything is hand drawn by us and a lot of things are even hand made by us! So you can't find it everywhere. We also take, and love, personalised requests. You can't get that everywhere.
You get focussed customer service
All your queries come right through to this very phone! Independent businesses are more often than not available around the clock a lot of the time! When you contact us you are more than likely talking right to the person that has packed your order, designed your order and who wrote your thank you card!
It can be more environmentally friendly
At Christine Gardner Design we source all of our materials and products locally, or within the UK. All of our specialist print suppliers are all based in the UK and use accredited paper stocks and organic cottons.
Small businesses also have small overheads, often working from their own houses! They don't drive miles to offices or use up extra resources in office buildings.
It could give the economy a boost!
Shopping local, supports the local economy. Shopping small keeps a shop in business.
You're supporting someones dream!
Your purchase might be used as a future investment into new product, or to buy some premises to trade from, whatever the businesses dream, you are helping them live it!
Find out more about #ColourFriday and #CampaignShopIndependent here:
https://holly.co/colour-friday-2022