North Texas businesses are making it easier to shop on Small Business Saturday
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - If you're looking to do some Small Business Saturday shopping, some North Texas businesses have made the whole process easy. In fact, you don't even have to leave your home.
At Madre in Dallas' Bluffview neighborhood; it's the busiest time of the year. The shop offers custom gifts and unique design items.
"We are a service," owner Mia Brous said. "We're not just buying an item. We wrap it for you. We have a presentation. We customize and it creates a much better experience than if you were just to click to buy online."
Still, Brous says the competition with big box stores can be fierce.
"It is a rough industry," she said. "We have a lot of big competitors. We are struggling with customer loyalty and getting people to buy from a small shop that maybe doesn't have the immediacy as Amazon."
Brous says that's where companies like Afloat come to play. The Dallas-based app offering a similar experience that supports local small businesses.
"I think it's really interesting how it opens up a whole new network and audience for them," founder and CEO Sarah-Allen Preston said.
Afloat is offering free shipping on Small Business Saturday with the code SMALLBIZLOV.
"It's a marketplace so we have almost 40 local businesses. You can get on and you can scroll and shop."
The whole goal is to make the entire process as easy as possible which is why the company has also teamed up with locally-based ride hailing app Alto to deliver these gifts right to your door.
"We're able to provide a really reliable and consistent delivery option," Alto employee Emily Bernet said.
The company point out with the risk of a rail strike and current supply chain struggles, that's something North Texans are looking for.
"You can feel confident that your gift is not going through the whole process of delivery or that it might get lost," Bernet said. "It's coming straight to you from the local business."
"Since we only have one location and we're relatively small, we benefit greatly from the additional exposure and the delivery service," Brous said.
She's confident this holiday season, it will make a difference.