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The Multiplier Effect of Local Independent Businesses
This resource is also offered in Spanish (leer en español).
Clearly communicating the importance of the local economic multiplier effect or “local premium” is a key part of effective “buy local” and public education campaigns. The multiplier results from the fact that independent locally-owned businesses recirculate a far greater percentage of revenue locally compared to absentee-owned businesses (or locally-owned franchises*). In other words,
going local creates more local wealth and jobs.
The multiplier is comprised of three elements — the direct, indirect, and induced impacts.
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- Direct impact is spending done by a business in the local economy to operate the business, including inventory, utilities, equipment and pay to employees.
- Indirect impact happens as dollars the local business spent at other area businesses re-circulate.
- Induced impact refers to the additional consumer spending that happens as employees, business owners and others spend their income in the local economy.
The private research firm
Civic Economics has executed the bulk of studies attempting to quantify the difference in local economic return between local independents and chain businesses. Their first such
study (pdf), for the city of Austin, Texas showed an independent bookseller (Book People) and music seller (Waterloo Records) returned more than three times as much money to the local economy as a proposed Borders Books and Music outlet would.*
Those results since have been mirrored by subsequent studies (
ten summarized here), each showing a much greater local multiplier for spending at independent businesses than chains. These studies measured the direct and indirect impacts to determine the base level local economic activity of a purchase made at a chain and a local independent business.
On average, 48 percent of each purchase at local independent businesses was recirculated locally, compared to less than 14 percent of purchases at chain stores. (See blue graph)
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The
Institute for Local Self-Reliance conducted perhaps the simplest study of the local multiplier effect in several small Maine communities in 2003. The study examined how much of a dollar spent at a local independent store is re-spent in the local area as payroll, goods/services purchased from area businesses, profits spent locally by owners, and as donations to area charities. The study found each $100 spent at local independents generated $45 of secondary local spending, compared to $14 for a big-box chain — nearly identical to later results across the many Civic Economics studies.
“Independent retailers return more than three times as much money per dollar of sales than chain competitors.”
Other studies by Civic Economics in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Chicago expanded exploration of the indirect impacts by including more business types (see discussion below) and added
induced impacts, so the results are not directly comparable to most other CE studies or the ILSR Maine study. While the body of research in this realm is still small, we are unaware of any studies inconsistent with the results referenced above.
[tweetthis] See the facts on what patronizing local indie businesses means to your local economy[/tweetthis]
Key Points
One study by Civic Economics has been the source of much confusion and been misrepresented extensively, to the detriment of many organizations. The study of Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood found a total economic impact (direct, indirect and induced) of $.68 for each dollar spent at ten local independents, compared to $.43 projected for their chain competitors.
However, the projection of indirect and induced impacts
does not mean $.68 of each dollar spent at a local independent “stays” in the local economy — an inaccurate claim that has been spread widely. It means $.68 of additional local economic return
ultimately is generated after additional spending cycles. Citing the higher numbers without explaining they include impacts by entities other than the original business is simply wrong.
Bear in mind the Andersonville study examines
just ten businesses in one neighborhood of one large city, so we discourage extrapolating its findings too broadly. Businesses in smaller cities and towns typically have less ability to source many goods and services locally. Be careful not to undermine the credibility of your group or campaign by presenting apples as oranges or statistically insignificant samples as a general truth!
To gain respect as an authoritative voice within your community, we suggest you guard your credibility by c
hecking your materials to ensure they convey verifiable, accurately-worded information and don’t rely on secondary sources. (The NY Times spread one exagerrated multiplier claim and at least two other outlets then wrongly attributed this claim to AMIBA because we were mentioned nearby, which is why we’re now zealous about correcting misinformation.)
Stickiness
In addition to being accurate, make sure your message is memorable. Saying, “
independent retailers return more than three times as much money per dollar of sales than chain competitors,” is a far more memorable phrase than talking in terms of percentages or comparing $.48 to $.15. For restaurants, consider framing like “locally-owned independent restaurants return twice as much to our local economy than chain restaurants per dollar of revenue.”
Of course, you could add, “and buying remotely on the web creates almost no local benefit–just a few minutes’ work for a delivery person.” You also may add for your outreach materials or interviews, “That adds up to a huge difference in creating local jobs and local wealth.” Calculating the added local wealth that would be generated by a 10% shift to local independents is one tactic successfully employed by several communities.
Details on Study Variants
Click to enlarge. *Estimated local benefit of remote sales ($1.02) based on driver wage of $17/hr (average of multiple sources) and 15 stops/hr (
Wall St Journal) of which 85% are to deliver a single item. Local return is slightly higher in cities with processing centers.
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Business Type
The size of the local premium varies depending on the type of business. Restaurants and service providers generate a large multiplier because they are labor-intensive and, therefore, more of each dollar of revenue goes to local payroll. Most retailers, unless they source an exceptionally high percentage of their goods locally, also create a more modest multiplier than restaurants.
This is not to say restaurants are better for economic development than retail. May retailers have sizable revenue and professional job opportunities, which are important to any local economy. It’s just helpful to be aware of these differences because the mix of businesses involved in a particular study will influence the results.
Land Use
In 2009,
Stay Local!, an AMIBA affiliate in New Orleans, commissioned Civic Economics to evaluate economic return per square foot of retail space used by both local merchants and Target Corporation. The local merchants studied generated twice as much sales activity per square foot and nearly quadrupled the local economic return per square foot compared to projections for Target.
See the resulting report:
Thinking Outside the Box (pdf).
Quantifying Shifts in Spending
To gauge the overall impact on your local economy of shifting 10% of purchasing from non-local or absentee-owned to locally-owned businesses, you would need to know the local multiplier for each category of spending and the percentage of people’s spending in each category. (i.e., 20% goes to groceries and the grocery multiplier is 0.15; 5% goes to books and the local multiplier is 0.32; etc.)
“Buying remotely creates almost no local benefit – just a few minutes’ work for a delivery person.”
Presumably, this is how Civic Economics arrived at the Grand Rapids figures for the impact of shifting 10% of all retail sales. The average local multiplier in that study works out to 0.16 across all retail categories.
By Jeff Milchen, AMIBA Co-founder. Thanks to Civic Economics and Stacy Mitchell of ILSR for assistance with this content. Note: AMIBA does not conduct these studies. Please contact Civic Economics for information about commissioning one for your community.
* The
Austin Independent Business Alliance used the study results to rally opposition against a public subsidy planned by the City to attract a Borders Books and Music store. AIBA succeeded. Tellingly, the corporation chose not to compete on a level playing field against two well-run independents and Borders never opened.
A Note on Franchises. Despite claims by countless franchisors (the companies that sell to a person wishing to operate a franchise — the franchisee), franchised businesses overall are
no more likely to succeed than independent businesses.The local multiplier effect of most franchises will fall between that of local independents and chain competitors in their business category.
Multiplier Effect Studies (all links are pdfs)
Independent We Stand/National Retail Hardware Assoc., spring, 2015. Specific to home improvement retail.
Monadnock Region, NH, fall 2014
Hudson Valley, NY, spring 2014
British Columbia 2013 (see p. 12)
Albuquerque, NM 2013
