Almost ninety-seven per cent of Australians proudly declare that they consciously attempt to alter their shopping habits to support the small and regional businesses that have been impacted by the triple threat of drought, fire and Coronavirus.
Ninety-four per cent acknowledge that the bushfires which ravaged our sunburnt land earlier in the year would still be having an impact on these businesses, thus resulting in 79 per cent of the survey participants very committed to the evolution of ‘shopping small’ to see these businesses supported and get back on their feet.
It has been almost six months to the day since Scott Morrison announced our State of Emergency and with bushfire season almost upon us again, the shop local message is one which we must continue to advocate.
Spend With Us is the phoenix from the ashes and is the result of what happens when Australians take the challenges they are thrown and literally double down their efforts to rise above adversity.
The company was formed earlier last month from the union of two equally notable businesses who made it their mission to bring the concept of ‘buy local’ to the forefront in the face of both environmental and economic hardship. The online shopping marketplace and directory for rural and regional small businesses of Australia supports rural businesses that find it hard to compete due to location, size, technology and other adversities.
Connecting the city and the bush, Spend With Us provides a platform where every rural or regional small business can create their own free website store and Australians across the country can find their products and support them.
All communication is done directly between the seller and buyer, Spend With Us just provides the platform for them to connect. With an ever growing community of sellers on its marketplace platform and the support of Australians and others around the world buying from these regional businesses, Spend With Us―Buy From a Bush Business marketplace is testament to what can be achieved when Australians work collectively, bringing our known sense of mateship to the forefront and banding together to support our rural communities.
A trait that almost 70 per cent of those surveyed displayed when they indicated that they often think of the people behind the businesses who have been impacted by these ongoing adversities. Seventeen per cent answered said that beyond this, they would go out of their way to increase their loyalty to a shop-owner known to have fallen on hard times.
Eighty per cent of us have spent more of our retail dollars with small businesses compared to last year and almost all of us (96 per cent) would be willing to spend up to 10 per cent more for the same product if they thought it was supporting these small Australian businesses.
How much more can these small businesses take though? Another fire season looms and the impact of Coronavirus is still being felt nationwide with no end in sight. Yes, they are stronger than we often give them credit for and the support to date has been well received with gratitude, but now more than ever, consumers need to be mindful where their money is going when shopping online. Spend with Us supports not only these regional businesses but our Australian ideology of supporting each other in times of hardship, a quality which is not only admirable but based on the survey data, proven to be a quality present in so many Australians.
