Almost all Australians (96.63%) have declared that they are consciously attempting to alter their shopping habits to support small and regional businesses impacted by drought, fire and now Coronavirus, according to a recent survey by Spend With Us, which aimed to gauge opinions on the ‘shop local’ movement.

94% acknowledge that the bushfires would still be having an impact on these businesses, resulting in 79% of survey participants very committed to the evolution of “shopping small” to see these businesses supported and get back on their feet, and 17% said they would go out of their way to increase their loyalty to a shop-owner known to have fallen on hard times.

Further, 80% of shoppers have spent more with small businesses compared to last year and almost all (96%) would be willing to spend up to 10% more for the same product if they thought it was supporting small Australian businesses. 

Spend With Us was formed last month from the union of two businesses who made it their mission to bring the concept of “Buy Local” to the forefront in the face of environmental and economic hardship. The online shopping marketplace and directory for rural and regional small businesses around Australia, supports businesses that find it hard to compete due to location, size, technology, and other adversities. 

Spend With Us provides a platform where every rural or regional small business can create their own free website and Australians can find their products and support them.  All communication is done directly between the seller and buyer.