Who loves to shop? (I’m talking clothes and gifts here, rather than the weekly trip to Tesco). Like a lot of mamas, I lost my fashion mojo for a while after having the boy, but it’s coming back, slowly but surely.
Admittedly, shopping these days is a little different from our teenage years, when we spent hours on end hanging round the local shopping centre, and deliberating for weeks over which colour Doc Martens to buy. Now, a rare shopping trip has to be meticulously organised and planned in advance, and is much more purposeful.
Buying from a small business is a different kind of shopping experience
Since I’ve been working on my blog, I’ve been exposed to a whole new kind of shopping experience. Buying from small businesses online. I’ll be honest, it’s not something I’d really done before and just wasn’t on my radar. However building relationships with small businesses is part of my work now and it really has opened my eyes.
The power of social media
The nature of my work means that I spend oodles of time on social media, promoting my blog and looking for ideas and inspiration for content. And I’ve really come to appreciate how much social media has opened the doors for small businesses to thrive.
Social media allows us to shop with small businesses in a very personal way. Small high street boutiques will post photos of their new stock that’s just in, and you can drop them a message to reserve it in your size. Some even offer to post it out to you, if you can’t make it to their bricks and mortar store.
The personal touch
I’ve discovered some fantastic small online businesses too, that offer amazing personalised services for clothes or gifts. I recently ordered a sweatshirt with a hand-printed design. When I received it, it came beautifully wrapped, and with a handwritten note. What a different experience to shopping with one of the big chains.
I’m not saying that I will never buy from a big chain ever again, of course I will. But I will certainly make sure that I buy from small businesses when I can, and I want to do as much as I can to support and promote small businesses, especially in the run-up to their busiest time of year!
Sharing some fantastic small businesses from our Directory to inspire your Christmas gifts and beyond
We’ll be sharing a selection of fantastic small businesses with you from our very own Directory, to inspire you for Christmas and beyond. If you buy from one of these businesses, please do post a photo of your purchase on social media (or just a sneak peek of it, if it’s a present!) and tag @MumsOffDuty as we’d love to see what you’ve bought. We mainly hang out on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
There’s no need to panic about Christmas shopping, there is still plenty of time left (check out our handy Christmas checklist to keep you on track) and we’ll be sharing lots of fabulous ideas to help you.
Happy shopping x
7 comments
Oh, I agree, there’s nothing better than a personal touch. As consumers, we often feel insignificant and unappreciated, so it is nice to know someone is grateful for our business. So great to support small business ventures, too!
So true! Thank you for reading!
I defo agree. I love to buy from local people and small sellers. The personal touch always goes a long way x
I try to shop with small businesses wherever I can. It usually tends to be for little unique gifts. x
I love buying from small businesses. Instagram is brilliant for finding new places to buy x
I’d love to buy from smaller businesses a bit more than I do now, looking forward to future post #BloggerClubUK
Buying from small independents is a wonderful thing to do. A win win situation. #BloggerClubUK