It's Small Business Week every week

May 4, 2025

Posted By: Jordan Amaker in Awareness, Community, General News,

This week is nationally recognized as "Small Business Week," and we're often tapped to respond and contribute to the noise. If you know our organization, you know we love a campaign, and we love any reason to celebrate and call-out the many reasons we should all be supporting our small businesses.

But we've shied away from latching onto this national campaign in recent years for one simple reason: The campaign's top sponsors, Amazon and Visa, are illegal monopolies crushing the very businesses the campaign claims to support. The campaign has become a PR-washing effort for two mega-businesses currently being sued by the US Department of Justice for their monopolization and unlawful conduct.

We understand that Amazon exploits and undermines small businesses and desperately needs to be broken up. Their endless marketing budget and splashy campaigns effectively sway public opinion otherwise, but the data is very clear:

In a 2019 survey, three-quarters of independent retailers ranked Amazon’s dominance as a major threat to their survival, and only 11 percent of those selling on its site described their experience as successful.[7] It’s not only retailers; small consumer product manufacturers, book publishers, and other creators are also imperiled. All of these small businesses are trapped in Amazon’s monopoly gambit: the tech giant controls access to the online market, which leaves them little choice but to sell on its platform. Yet doing so allows Amazon, also their competitor, to exploit and undermine them. - Institute for Local Self Reliance

Amazon charges small businesses a significant portion of their revenue through various fees, including referral, advertising, and fulfillment fees, which have risen substantially in recent years. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance reports that Amazon's fees can take up to 45% of a seller's revenue, making it difficult for small businesses to stay afloat. They use the data gathered from every small business transaction via their platform to undermine and create competing offers at a lower price and with better placement. Most recently, Amazon intentionally held their book sale to overlap with Indie Bookstore Day.

And then there's Visa sitting at the very top of the list for Small Business Week campaign supporters. Visa and Mastercard control 85% of credit and debit card transactions. American businesses pay seven times more versus what European businesses pay in swipe fees. In our annual member survey, credit card fees continue to be a top-ranking financial pain point of our small business members, eroding away at profits that could - and should - be able to be used to hire, raise employee wages, obtain inventory and more.

Amazon and Visa don't care about small business. They care about their shareholder profits.

What we do think is worth celebrating is the fact that we, as Lowcountry citizens, can show up for small businesses here in our community every day and every week of the year.

Mark your commitment to the hard-working, local job-creating, tax-paying, community-shaping businesses in our local food system by signing our Eat Drink Local Pledge. Buy direct from local farmers and purveyors or bundle up with Lowcountry Street Grocery. When eating out, ask your servers for help selecting dishes that include locally-sourced ingredients. Sip on the plethora of locally-produced beverages. Show up and celebrate your neighbors in business every day!

Sign the Eat Drink Local Pledge:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdrPbOKVLvpxsjaeZcqL2zzhJiMuuEWT3uRPRkYO8IqqPqozQ/viewform

Bookmark and use the local business directory:
https://www.lowcountrylocalfirst.org/member-directory

Look for the Certified Local Badge on storefronts and thank them (with your voice and with your dollars) for the impact they have on this place.