Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
Consumers are paying attention to retailers’ stories and backgrounds. Before making purchasing decisions they are asking questions such as, “Is this store locally owned?” and, “Does it put money into corporate pockets or my community?”
In a recent poll, Hardware Retailing found that 59 percent of 1,000 consumers have made greater efforts to shop at locally owned businesses within the past year. To capitalize on consumers’ interest in supporting local businesses, retailers are getting involved in and seeing benefits from shop local campaigns.
For the 2015 Independent Business Survey, Advocates for Independent Business and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance surveyed more than 3,000 independent, locally owned businesses on their growth in 2014 and their involvement with shop local campaigns. Below is data gathered from the study that shows that these campaigns do have an impact on independent businesses’ bottom lines and improve awareness about their businesses.
Applied to Retail: Get involved in a shop local campaign. Visit your local chamber of commerce or local government entities to see if they have current local campaigns in place.
Hardware Retailing has also created a marketing toolkit that is free to retailers who are looking to promote their local identities and the impact they have within their communities. The toolkit uses data from the North American Retail Hardware Association’s recent Home Sweet Home Study, which shows that purchasing products from an independent home improvement retailer keeps twice as much money in a local economy as spending money at a big box.
Materials in this toolkit include press releases, shelf talkers, store signage, social media content and more. Download the toolkit for free now!
