With Small Business Week kicking off April 30, AT&T recently conducted a survey* to learn more about consumers’ attitudes toward small businesses and their motivations to “shop small.” Here’s what we found.

Buying Behaviors

  • Out of nearly 5,000 respondents surveyed, about 76% support a variety of small businesses.
  • Restaurants had the most support (58%) followed by retail stores (40%) and medical offices, hair salons and coffee shops (each at 35%).
  • 90% of all respondents shop at small businesses at least once a month with nearly half that shop at a small business every week.

Millennials Matter

  • Approximately half of millennials (ages 16 – 34) are willing to pay more to support a small business compared to 38% of Gen X respondents (age 35 – 49) and 42% of boomer respondents (age 50 – 75).
  • The majority of millennials (59%) have never worked for a small business, even though they are the generation most likely to spend more money to support a small business.

Location, Location, Location

  • ‘Staying local’ is a big motivating factor to ‘shop small’ for all respondents, with 48% saying they want to support local employment and 47% saying they want to keep money local as top reasons to shop at a small business.
  • Supporting local employment is a top motivator for millennials to shop at a small business, along with convenience.

Small Biz Sentiment

  • 23% of all respondents want Wi-Fi available from a small business, while 10% want mobile payment options.
  • 56% of all respondents feel more favorable about large companies that support small businesses.

To learn more about how AT&T can help your small business, visit https://www.att.com/smallbusiness/shop/index.html.

*Source: AT&T and Added Value survey of 4,737 mobile users, Jan. 4 – Feb. 1, 2017