A lot of us like the idea of supporting small businesses rather than large ones. Although large businesses may employ people that live locally to us, it can feel more worthwhile to buy from small independents as we are supporting small traders who will be depending on making sales to pay their rent or feed their family. However, it can be the case that they are more expensive. This is because they are unable to take advantages of discounts that are available to larger businesses but they often still have the same costs with regards to rent, employing staff, utilities and some taxes. This means that they need support to keep going as they cannot cover these expenses with people shopping with them. However, it costs more so should you pay more?
Should I pay more?
It is wise to think about what you can afford when you are shopping. If you struggle to make ends meet, then you could find that buying things form independent shops will just be too expensive for you. As much as you might like to help them, you need to be careful to make sure that you are not getting yourself into financial difficulties by doing so. If you cannot afford it, then you could talk to friends and family and encourage them to buy from them instead. This could help you to be able to still help the companies without buying form them yourself. You could also promote them on social media or in other ways.
However, if you can afford to pay a bit more then you might like to support them. If you are in control of your money and have plenty to spend, then paying more for things can be a great way to help independent shops and businesses without getting yourself into debt. You will need to watch how much you are spending though to ensure that you are not overspending.
Benefits of paying more?
It can also be worth thinking about whether there are any other advantages to paying more money to independents as well as helping them.
It is possible that you will get better customer service as they will be really keen to encourage custom and so will want to treat you really well. If they are local to you then supporting them will mean supporting your local economy. This means that your area can grow and with that more people will want to visit or live in the area, this means they spend more too and there is more tax paid so more can be spent by the local council on services. It can also just help to brighten up the owners life as your small purchase could help them to manage to pay their mortgage for that month.
If you really like certain retailers and providers then you will want to support them. These could be big businesses or small ones. It is a good idea to think about who you are supporting. In times when things are tough for all businesses it will be the ones that customers choose to support that survive, so whether you want independents, big business or probably a mix of both to make it through tough times, you will need to shop with them and show them all the support that you can by encouraging others to shop with them as well. However, when times are tough, it often means that all of us have less money to spend as well and that can mean that we will not be able to afford to offer independents the support that they need. We need to make sure that we look after our finances as well as theirs.
