How to get involved with Independent’s Day UK (And Why It Matters to Small Businesses)

Come the first weekend in July (and on the day itself, Tuesday July 4th), the streets and social media will be alive with the people bearing the Independent’s Day logo showing support, spending money, running events and telling stories about their experiences.

Read on to find out how your business and customers can get involved.

About Independent’s Day UK

2023 will be Independent’s Day UK’s (IDUK) 6th anniversary, so while the initiative isn’t the oldest around, it’s growing every year. Through social media and a focus on building community and connections across the nation, it’s becoming more and more recognisable with every year.

The focus of the day revolves around retailers and shoppers, with the IDUK website highlighting that spending is under pressure in the current climate, so small retailers have never needed support more.

“Independents’ Day UK is a campaign that exists to support and promote independent retail businesses across the UK all year round, but with an annual focus around July 4th: this year across a full weekend, on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd July.”

IDUK has the support of many reputable organisations similarly sympathetic to small businesses. These organisations include the Federation of Independent Retailers, Bira and the Independent Retailers Confederation (and the many indie shops they represent), as well as the Association of Town and City Management.

How can people get involved with Independent’s Day UK?

IDUK lists the ways they want to encourage participation for retailers, shoppers, and bigger businesses as well! With a focus on conversation, sharing stories, and creating connections between shoppers and indie businesses, and between businesses too. So what will people be doing come July 1st and 2nd?

Retailers

👉 Step 1️

One of the first things a retailer can do to show support for IDUK is to download the logo from their website. 

Next, and IDUK cannot stress this enough, Post! Post! Post! 

Independent’s Day UK wants to create a national community, and there’s nowhere better to do that than on social media, where distance means nothing. Add the logo to your social media stories regularly and create a post too.

The download on the website comes in printer-friendly poster form, which small retailers can display in your windows to show your support.

👉 Step 2

@ukindieday shares stories they gather from indie businesses on Twitter for everyone to see, and by posting about IDUK, you can help the spread of the initiative and grow the platform so it becomes more valuable to everyone involved. Whether Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook or any other website is your channel of choice, IDUK is there, re-sharing stories of small retailers like yours.

You can get creative here - if you’ve got time to create a series of graphics about your story, it’ll go down a treat. Equally, if you’re happy being in front of a camera, talk directly to the camera about why your business needs support this Independent’s Day, and encourage your audience to get involved.

 ​​Step 3

Write a blog article for IDUK discussing the issues and concerns you have about being a small retailer right now. IDUK will happily post it to its website (and then you can share it on your own social media platform as a bonus post). Both your social media post and the IDUK website will gather support and awareness about your business, and IDUK depends on engagement like this to grow, just as you do.

👉 Step 4

Finally, you can do something special in early July in-store, either by hosting a discussion event in-store or running a special offer or promotion to encourage those who see your social media or blog post to come in, have a chat, and buy some of your wonderful products!

Shoppers

If your actions gain attention from the online and local community, you’ll likely be asked what non-retailers can do to support you and IDUK. So it’s good to have an answer for them. Alternatively, if you’re in the hospitality industry or are just an enthusiastic shopper, what can you do in July to show your support?

Well, firstly, posting with the tag #ukindieday on social media and engaging with retailers' posts can go a long way to starting the trend that IDUK is after. 

Starting conversations is what the campaign is all about, and any retailer knows word of mouth is some of the most valuable marketing you can use. So talk to your friends and family about the day and about your favourite local retailers.

Next, ask your local retailers if they’re involved in the movement, and if they’re not, direct them to https://www.independentsdayuk.org/ and encourage them to join in. 

Finally, seek out some local independent retailers you’ve never visited before, and head over on July 4th (or the weekend before, if you’ll be working on the day itself). When retailers get increased footfall on the day, it will show that the campaign is working. After all, connecting indie retailers to their communities is what it’s all about.

Why does Independent’s Day UK matter?

As a grassroots movement, IDUK seeks to foster a social and commercial environment better suited to the tens of thousands of small, independent retailers in the United Kingdom. With staying competitive becoming more difficult with the rise of eCommerce, supermarkets, and high streets increasingly without independent presence, here at Epos Now, we can understand that concern.

IDUK believes that the best way to combat this is by helping to give indie businesses recognition and connections within their communities. For many smaller retailers, being as well-known with locals as Tesco, Primark, B&Q, or any other big-name brand is near impossible. Without that recognition, consumers will always think of the bigger name first.

But with a successful Independent’s Day each year, shoppers can get to know the local retailers, see what’s on the shelves, and can start to think of independent’s and the valuable services they offer every bit as quickly as they do the big name brand. Especially when they’re thinking of those unique, meaningful products and services that small shops offer customers.

So print off that poster, share your story (and your latest promotions) this July and help your community support you by supporting Independent’s Day UK 2023! 🙌🎉