The results are in and we wanted you to know – Small Business Saturday continues to change the playing field for small businesses across the country and spending exceeded expectations. Small businesses across the country got their holiday season off to a strong start as millions of U.S. consumers “shopped small” on Small Business Saturday and made a big impact on local communities. According to the second installment of the Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey, released today by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) and American Express, consumer awareness of Small Business Saturday jumped to 67 percent from 34 percent just two weeks ago.

Of those aware, nearly half (47%) shopped on Small Business Saturday. The increased awareness translated into higher spending. Those U.S. consumers who were aware of Small Business Saturday spent a total of $5.5 billion with independent merchants. Pre-holiday surveys estimated that U.S. consumers would spend $5.3 billion. This success is due to the business owners, the consumers and the community leaders who made it happen.

Here are a few stats:
• A remarkable 67 percent of Americans surveyed said they were aware of Small Business Saturday, up from 34 percent in the weeks leading up to the day. Those U.S. consumers who were aware of Small Business Saturday spent a total of $5.5 billion with independent merchants.
• American Express® Cardmembers made 21 percent more transactions at small business merchants than they did a year ago.
• Online tools and materials were leveraged more than 100,000 times by small business owners to help get the word out about Small Business Saturday
• More than 213,000 tweets were sent in support of Small Business Saturday in November, many leveraging the hashtags #smallbizsat and #shopsmall. This includes consumers spreading the word about the national initiative and business owners promoting offers they created specifically for the day.