The CIC is a campaigning organisation for small businesses. Its principal activity is to deliver its annual campaign Small Business Saturday with the aim of having a lasting impact on small businesses by highlighting the contribution that small businesses make to their local communities and to celebrate the more than 5.5m small businesses in the UK. Small Business Saturday is a non-commercial, grassroots campaign aimed at highlighting the success of small businesses within their communities, and at encouraging consumers to ‘shop local’. On Small Business Saturday, customers across the U.K. go out and support all types of small businesses, online, in offices and in stores. Many small businesses take part in the day by hosting events and offering discounts. The day itself takes place on the first Saturday in December each year, but the campaign aims to have a lasting impact on small businesses. Small Business Saturday took place on 7 December 2024. The daylong event was preceded by a nationwide tour supported by American Express. Kicking off in Inverness, the tour visited towns across the country, shining a light on the contribution of the UK’s vibrant small business economy, before finishing in London. In the run up to Small Business Saturday, Small Biz 100 highlighted 100 small businesses, one a day for 100 days leading up to the main event. The tour put sustainability and energy saving at its heart and made use of electric vehicles to reduce emissions This benefited the small business community by giving small businesses a national marketing spotlight, high engagement on social media for small businesses, enabling small business stories to be shared on social media , encouraging consumers to support small local businesses to assist growth, offering workshops provided by leading experts to support small businesses The campaign sees over 10 million people support local small businesses for Small Business Saturday, driving more than £630 million of additional spend on the day.

The CIC’s stakeholders are: small businesses in the UK, supporters of the campaign, including big companies, trade organisations and the public sector, and consumers of small business goods and services. The CIC undertakes a number of consultation activities with its stakeholders each year to determine success and future planning. For consumers, a nationwide survey is conducted over the 48 hours around Small Business Saturday, looking at awareness, engagement, spend and success of various activities in driving this behaviour. For small businesses, regular online surveys ask small businesses what their needs and concerns are and what the campaign can do to help these. The director and individuals working with the CIC meet regularly with big company supporters, trade bodies, such as the Federation of Small Businesses, and central and local government to determine how they can best support the campaign, including what can be improved year to year. Regular events are held regionally across the UK, including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to engage and elicit feedback on the campaign.

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