Winter 2012

Sales Surge
on Small Business Saturday

A sustained group marketing effort coinciding with Small Business Saturday really helped Earth Inspired Living.

Earth Inspired Living

Location: Winter Park, FL
Specialties: Eco-friendly gifts and home accessories
Years in business: 3
YOY Sales Increase: 28%

Gift shop owner Linda Semmler worked to galvanize support for Small Business Saturday among her fellow merchants and the local chamber of commerce in Winter Park, FL. Semmler serves on the board of directors for the Park Avenue Area Association, which is an arm of the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce. “This year, I wanted to make sure that all of the retailers on the avenue were aware of the program, how it works and how much it could help them,” says Semmler, owner of Earth Inspired Living.

The Winter Park Chamber of Commerce signed up as a program sponsor and subsequently sent out the Small Business Saturday tool kit to all of the merchants on Park Avenue several weeks prior to the event. The tool kit includes a variety of resources such as sample Twitter and Facebook posts, a letter for employees explaining the event, and a template to print signs and posters promoting the event.

In addition, the Winter Park Chamber sent a press release to local media and took advantage of different social media outlets. “The chamber garnered all of that publicity that a single store probably would have had a tougher time doing,” says Semmler. The more than 35 merchants in the chamber also worked to spread the word through their own social media and email marketing.

The combined efforts of the chamber and the Park Avenue Area Association, along with efforts of individual retailers, really helped to attract shoppers to the whole community of local businesses. Earth Inspired Living saw its year-over-year sales jump 28% on Small Business Saturday compared to the previous year. That volume also represented the largest single day sales total for the month of November. “The valuable lesson for me is that there truly is power in numbers,” says Semmler. “The more people we can get on board within the community, the more publicity we can garner.”