It’s now the season where we are on a fast track thrill ride until the end of the year. And with that, in addition to spending time with family and friends, there is all of the delicious holiday inspired eating and gift giving (especially if the gifts are for yourself, which is how I roll). If you are like me, I save all of my must “need” purchases, in addition to holiday gifts, until the the end the year and that’s all because of the the much anticipated “Black Friday Sales”. The deals are so good and they are coming at you from all directions. It’s a fan favorite, whether you are a retailer or customer, everyone wins. Gift givers and/or “I don’t buy anything full price” shoppers ( hand raised, guilty) are having a ball checking everything off their lists and retailers are loving the influx of new customers, thus the purpose of this post … I want to give a shoutout to online stores during this holiday season. I have plenty of predominately online shops that I love to frequent and am attentively stalking their website or socials to see when their Black Friday Sales will finally drop ( P.S. Notebooks & Honey’s Black Friday Sale is going on now … 30% off site wide until the end of November! ).
Of course, I love supporting small business and shopping local, who doesn’t love the beautifully decorated brick and mortar that is full of charm and gorgeous smelling candles, preferable located next to an equally cute coffee shop for your post shopping caffeine fix. But let’s not forget that as much as we cherish these places, supporting small business is not just for the physical boutiques, supporting small business goes for online businesses as well. Online shopping websites do not only consist of Amazon or big box brands, a lot of shopping online sites are small business owners who are trying to curated the most amazing products for their online store; whether it’s a passion project or a living income, there is heart in the small business online store.
Reasons to shop online (especially during the holiday/ gift giving season):
So Convenient: How easy is it to get all of your holiday shopping done online? Especially with the amazing Black Friday Sales, you can spend a couple of hours on your laptop and get most of your shopping done. No more driving somewhere, or to multiple somewheres, circling the parking lot, waiting in line, fighting the crowds. Also, think about this, you can make an online purchase and have the item shipped somewhere else (aka, a gift to a friend). So easy … now you can take going to the post office off the list as well. Please note, I’m very supportive of brick and mortars, especially the local ones, but if you want efficiency and convenience, online is the way to go.
Better Product Range and Inventory: The inventory is oftentimes so much bigger online. For instance, I was browsing the GAP website for a winter coat for one of my kids and I thought I would pop into the actual GAP store to pick it up so I can get the coat right away. Well, I know this is not news, but when I got to the store, it hit me that the inventory and selection in an actual store is skimpy compared to their online counterpart. I ended up going home and buying the coat online because GAP did not have that style in the store. That is definitely one of the reasons for shopping online. You have more product range and inventory than in the brick and mortar shops.
Finding Cool Brands: This works both ways, online retailers get to reach the customers in a broader arena (uh, hello, like the whole internet) and shoppers get to discover cool brands that they would never have known about. To me, this is one of the fun parts of the Black Friday season, since most of the brands are heavily promoting their great deals, I am getting brands that I’ve never heard of pop up in my Instagram and I’m loving my discoveries! If you enjoy finding new brands, especially the smaller regional or niche brands, then your holiday gift will be even cooler and seemingly more thoughtful because you are getting a gift for someone from a off the beaten path place and they most likely haven't seen the item before.
Supporting Small Business: As mentioned, there are so many online shops that are small businesses. And that’s because with all of these great platforms like Shopify (which I use), it’s easy to start a business and share your dreams of selling earrings, graphic prints or liquid hydrators. This holiday shopping season, in addition to the Amazons and Gaps (again, love them, no diss) please take the time to support small business. In addition to selling my ultimate modern tote bag, I also support other small businesses by purchasing items for my Curated Collection page from a great wholesale marketplace platform for small businesses. Small businesses often support other small businesses, which makes the small business community the absolute best.
For Notebooks & Honey, being an online retail shop over brick and mortar is ideal for me for many reasons, the number one is low overhead and second is flexibility. There is no renting a physical space and I don’t need to hire staff since I’m a one woman show, so the overhead is pretty cost effective. I primarily have a storage unit and my existing office space (which I own). Being a “solopreneur” , although it has its limitations, means there is great flexibility that allows me to be less stressed about the store when there are other things going on in life. Additionally, focusing on the online model has allowed me to experiment with other camps of online retail ownership, such as selling wholesale, dropshipping, collaborations and pop up shops. I love shipping orders 10 miles down the road as much as across the country; it’s so fun to imagine how these different customers found my little ‘ole store on the big World Wide Web.
Have a great Holiday Season! Take care, shop those sales and continue supporting small businesses!
