6 reasons to support local businesses

Some of you may have noticed that since the beginning of the pandemic many have started to promote local businesses to help their local economy through the negative effects of COVID-19. This really became a trend, especially on social media. While by now the trend has slowed down, it still planted a seed in many people’s minds. Why shouldn’t we support our local businesses more even in normal times? There are many benefits for both the customers as well as the economy. We gathered them below so you can decide whether you would like to hop on the trend too.

1. Support your own economy

The most straightforward benefit of supporting local businesses is the fact that you can help out your own economy. The more support your local economy gets, the more these local businesses will start booming. This means soon enough they will need a bigger workforce to keep up with the increasing demand, offering new job opportunities to those who need it. On top of that, local businesses pay local taxes, which means that the money you spend to support these businesses will be in some way indirectly reinvested in your country.

2. Promote environmental friendliness

For the green minds amongst us, this benefit is a very important one. Local businesses often produce their products locally. This means the distance between your home and the business is far smaller compared to many big businesses that outsource their production in faraway countries where wages are lower. So this kills two birds with one stone: fewer emissions will be released into the atmosphere due to transportation and fairer wages are given to local employees. Another plus is that you can also benefit from a faster and more reliable delivery.

3. Encounter more unique businesses

While it can be very tempting to buy your products in big stores that can be found worldwide, local stores tend to offer more unique products. Big chains are known to set trends because the majority of people buy their clothes there. If you want to find more unique or one-of-a-kind products we would highly recommend shopping in locally-owned shops. They often offer you a more personalized shopping experience and can cater more specifically to your individual style.

4. Locally focused

Local businesses tend to put an emphasis on providing a great service or product for their community. Especially small local businesses attach a lot of importance to their reputation because word of mouth can make or break them. Every customer matters. This is why they truly care about their customers, which means that in case an issue occurs you can rest assured that they will help you to their best ability.

5. Show your patriotism

By buying local products, you have the opportunity to help small local businesses get bigger and turn your country into a place that is known to produce high-quality products. For patriots, this is a great way to show off what your country has to offer.

6. Encourage local entrepreneurship and innovation

When you are supporting local businesses you are also supporting entrepreneurship and innovation in your community. The more your local economy is thriving, the more attractive it will become for others to start their own local businesses too. This eventually leads to high competition, making it more appealing for these businesses to innovate in order to keep their competitive advantage over other businesses.