Utah Small Businesses Expecting Big Sales During Holiday Season (UPR)

Small businesses in Utah are preparing for Black Friday and the holiday shopping season. According to a recent study, November and December bring in a large amount of revenue to Utah businesses compared to the rest of the year.

Local Utah retailers have the fifth best Black Friday sales in the country. On Black Friday alone, Utah retailers average $4,604 in single-day revenue according to Brad Plothow, the vice president of marketing and communications at Womply.

“Surprisingly we found that Black Friday across the board is the best sales day for small independent retailers of the entire year,” Plothow said. “Typically associate Black Friday with big-box retailers – Best Buy Wal-Mart – turns out that small retailers also see a huge lift on that day and Utah is no exception.”

Local Utah retailers average $2,967 on Cyber Monday, putting them at the fifth best Cyber Monday in the Country.

“It’s not just the case that on Cyber Monday people log onto their phones or their computers and buy on Amazon,” Plothow said. “They’re spending money and they’re in the mood to spend money and we see that actually trickle over into physical business sales as well.”

Small Business Saturday is not the most important sales days of the year according to Plothow, but Utah retailers are still ranked sixth compared to other states.

Al’s Sporting Goods based in Logan, Utah has been in business for almost 100 years according to president and CEO Kris Larsen. He said keeping up with big name brand stores during the holidays isn’t a problem.

“If you go look at all of our prior Black Friday ads, lay them all out on the counter then go look at our competitors, we’re knocking their socks off on everything,” Larsen said. “That’s why it’s pandemonium in our store.”

Larsen said stores like his are often able to make stronger community connections along with the good deals during the holiday season.