Bedford, Adam. "How I Converted My Mum Into A Local Shopper.” Farmers Weekly 146.17 (2007): 96. 21 Nov. 2015.
Adam, the author of this article has always told everyone how amazing shopping locally was compared to supermarkets. Adam then made the life decision to buy the food he needed locally and never set foot in a supermarket again. After months of not going into a supermarket he then had the thought. “If I could do it, why couldn’t everyone?” To make it easier for others Adam created the Shopping Challenge where he challenged his mother Judith, and mother in-law Julie, to not go into a supermarket for a one month. Adams made what seemed to be a difficult transition into a challenge that both women were willing to accept. At first the women were worried about how they were going to go hungry in the coming month, but soon realized how pleasant shopping locally really is. After the month was over Judith and Julie both ranted about how much money they were saving weekly and how they now hated going to the supermarket. Farmers Weekly is the leading multimedia information service for farmers and agricultural business in print, and online. Adam Bedford is an experienced editor/producer on multiple platforms with a background in Motion Graphics. I will use this credible source in my essay as one example as to how to get the people closest to you into only shopping locally.
Blake, Megan K., Jody Mellor, and Lucy Crane. "Buying Local Food: Shopping Practices, Place, and Consumption Networks in Defining Food as “Local”." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 100.2 (2010): 409-426. 21 Nov. 2015.
When you ask people their definition of local you will surprisingly get different answers from certain people. Retailers are part to blame for these different meanings in the word local. There has been a growing amount of people (mainly white middle-class citizens) that have switched to buying only local foods. In turn retailers have opted to getting their share in this local food movement. They have been attempting to sell “local” food in their stores and consequently altered the definition of local. The Annals of the Association of American Geographers was first published in 1911 and is one of the world’s foremost geography journals. This is a reliable source as it currently ranks 10th out of 76 geography journals worldwide. Megan K. Blake, one of the authors of this paper is an expert evaluator for the European Commission and is also the councilor for the Economic Geography Research Group of the AAG. Another one of the authors is Jody Mellor, she completed her PHD at the Centre for Women’s Studies, at the University of York before she was a Research Fellow in the Department of Geography at the University of Sheffield. I will use this source to use as support for my argument of big business and their negative effects on locally owned businesses.
Bryson, Bill. “The Hard Sell: Advertising in America.” Language Awareness: Readings for College Writers. Ed. Paul Eschholz. Alfred Rosa. Virginia Clark. Boston: Bedford St. Martin, 2013. 397-409. Print.
This article discusses the history of advertising here in the United States and how the advertising we have been exposed to our entire lives is relatively new. Most of the common household product names began in the beginning of the 20th century like Coke-Cola, Kodak, and many more. Having an established brand is extremely important for companies that have a lot of competition, this way their product is trusted and frequently bought. Because of the trust consumers give to certain brands the companies consequently deceive the costumers and charge a premium for a nearly identical product. Bill Bryson, the author of this essay has many bestselling books, one of his works “A Short History of Nearly Everything” won the Royal Society’s Aventis Prize as well as the Descartes Prize, the European Union’s highest literary award. Bryson currently resides in the United Kingdom serving as Chancellor of Durham University in Durham, England. I am planning to use this source to support my argument that because big corporation’s mass advertisements and their established brand, small businesses have difficulty competing in the consumer market.
Kutz, Erin, Jayne O’donnell, and USA Today. "Why Holiday Shoppers Are Thinking Local." USA Today. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.
The current economic situation still has negative effects on mom-and-pop businesses but holiday shoppers have begun to understand the value of shopping locally. This article discusses the perks of holiday gift shopping like being able to find something unique and having this sense of treasure hunting. For small businesses the holiday shopping season makes up about 20 to 30 percent of their annual sales. So the holidays are a crucial time of the year for local stores to promote themselves and their community. USA Today is a multi-platform news and information media company which was founded in 1982. Their print has a daily readership of 3 million and their website has 38 million monthly visitors. Erin Kutz, one of the authors of this article has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Boston University and now covers politics and business news. Jayne O’donnell the other author of this article graduated from George Washington University with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and is now a reporter for USA Today covering healthcare policy. I will use this credible source as one of the reasons to how shopping locally can be better than shopping at a nationwide store.
"Food Miles Movement Fueled By Local Food." Environmental Nutrition 34.6 (2011): 3. 21 Nov. 2015.
The article focuses on the food miles and local food movement growing across the United States, intended to persuade consumers in creating a sustainable food system. It says that food miles advocates eating locally-grown foods to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It states the 25% increase of food travel in the U.S. caused by trade globalization and packaged food consumption. Several tips in ways to eat local foods that include planting a garden, hosting a harvest party, and shopping at a local farmers' market are given. Environmental Nutrition, is an award-winning, independent newsletter which was founded in 1977 and since then offered reliable guidance on the things that we consume. Every month as many as 15 articles are reported set on helping readers protect against disease, minimize risk from pesticides, and live a longer healthier life. This source is going to help support one of my main arguments that shopping locally has a smaller impact on the environment in turn helping my readers see the positive effects of buying local.
James, Geoffrey. “Why Big Business Marketing Strategies Won’t Work for You.” Inc.com Web. 21 Nov. 2015
Every big company has their own brand like Apple and Coke and that is essentially what made them successful by separating themselves from their competition. In turn small businesses attempt to replicate what these well-known companies did to become successful. However, the same tactics of big business unfortunately do not apply to small businesses. If a small company decided to put up a commercial it would not be able to get past all the other advertisements from larger companies. So the only way for small businesses to create their own brand is by offering a unique product or having a more personalized service. Inc.com, is the website for Inc. magazine which has been publishing for entrepreneurs and business owners for more than 30 years. Their website was launched in 1996 and since then grown to be a site where you can find everything you need to know to start and grown your own business. Geoffrey James is a journalist and freelance writer who has spent years observing and documenting how business people manage to get their working life into something they enjoy. He is also a professional speaker, an editor, and has an award-winning blog that appears daily on Inc.com. I will use this reliable source in my essay to show how small businesses would not be able to compete with larger businesses in terms of marketing but they should exploit the services that large businesses cannot do.
Luntz, Frank. “Be All That You Can Be: The Company Persona and Language Alignment.” Language Awareness: Readings for College Writers. Ed. Paul Eschholz. Alfred Rosa. Virginia Clark. Boston: Bedford St. Martin, 2013. 427-433. Print.
Every big company has a “persona” and with this persona they can get almost anyone to buy their products. When a person buys something they essentially see their product as an extension of themselves. Much like how a person’s fashion choices define who they are, and in some places the brand that you wear also represent you. This type of buying where we only buy certain brands because we believe that it defines us occurs throughout our society. Frank Luntz, the author of this essay is a political consultant, pollster and Republican Party strategist. He has a degree in history and political science from the University of Pennsylvania and received his PhD from Oxford University. Luntz specializes in message creation and image management for commercial and political and is known to understand the world of words. I will use this essay to show why exactly consumers think that products from big businesses are of better quality than the products offered by local businesses.
Oliver St., John. "Small Business Saturday a Hit." USA Today Nov. 2013. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.
Since the start of Small Business Saturday by American Express in 2010, it has only gotten bigger every year. Small Business Saturday is nestled in between Black Friday and Cyber Monday and has racked up $5.7 billion in consumer spending at small businesses and is expected to increase. Throughout the year small businesses cannot compete with big businesses, big sales on Black Friday so many local shop owners are happy to get some costumers in on Small Business Saturday. USA Today is a reliable multi-platform news and information media company which was founded in 1982. Their print has a daily readership of 3 million and their website has 38 million monthly visitors. Oliver St. John is a reporter at USA Today who writes about small business, retail, and marketing. He has a bachelor’s degree in English/Creative Writing from Macalester College. I am using this article to show the current movement already occurring around the world with commitment to shopping at small businesses and also helping spread the word about Small Business Saturdays to my readers if they haven’t already heard of it.