Trend Justification

Figure 7: Small fashion brand (Unsplash)

Intuition Localism is as popular and encouraged than ever. Transnational corporations such as Google, Facebook and Amazon are all taking part in this trend (see appendix).18-30-year olds are going out of their way to shop locally. (The Future Laboratory, 2020)

Observation An 18-25-year-old student“I will go out of my way to go into my local shops, I think it is better for the community.” (See Appendix)

‘Shopping locally makes me feel appriciated and good about myself as im helping the community’ (See Appendix)

Tiktok social media platform has over ten billion views on the hashtag small business. (TikTok, 2020)

“LOCAL”

Figure 8 : Graph demonstrating searches for “Local” (Google Trends)

CULTURAL TRIANGULATION MODEL

Interrogation Janne Karppinen, Head of Retail, MasterCard UK “The way we shop has changed.. we have seen a trend of people opting to shop locally. Small Business are the backbone of the economy and many are discovering great, varied and unique shops in their local neighbourhood.” (Briggs, 2020)

72% of consumers believe they will frequently visit local businesses more often (BusinessNextDoor,2020)

65 per cent of UK consumers believe that local shops are important to the community. (Kantar,2020)

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL

IMPACT MATRIX

The impact matrix demonstrates the urgency that is required with this trend and there is a moderately high degree of certainty, which highlights the positive reaction/ impact the trend will accumulate.

SWOT ANAYLSIS

Political After a full lockdown has caused large declines to small businesses, the UK Government have backed and promoted schemes to help get local businesses back on their feet. This promotes society as a whole to go out and help their local community. (Scully, 2020) Economical Small businesses are an important factor in the economic success of the nation. Taking up 99% of the UK business population is important to look after small businesses for the benefit of the economy. (FSB, 2020) Social The pandemic has caused a sense of urgency in communities to shop locally to help their communities (Morneau, 2020) Technological Current technology creates means for consumers to purchase local goods without physically going to the store, it gives further reach for companies to due social media and online advertisement (Shopify,2020) Legal When supporting local businesses, it is important they are fully insured and set up as a legal business that comply with the law. (FBS, 2020) Environmental Shopping locally reduces carbon footprint, the process cuts out thousands of air miles (Walker, 2020) Small fashion businesses are less likely to create fast fashion which contributes to textile waste (Weber, Lynes, and Young, 2017)

Strengths Supporting local business ensures the livelihood of local communities and creates long lasting customer relationships. (FSM, 2021)

Opportunities Large companies supporting small businesses will positively impact CSR and may help the small business thrive despite recent economic downfall (Tesco, 2021) Weaknesses Getting consumers to purchase from new brands may be difficult as consumers enjoy shopping with names they trust and have been provided with consistent quality (Fertik, 2019).

Threats Smaller brands may not be able to replenish stock to maximise sales and meet demands. Small brands may not be able to produce consistent quality in comparison to large retailers (Nicasio, 2021).