How can small High Street businesses compete?

It's hard enough for small businesses on the High Street in a recession, but when you factor in the never ending growth of global chains (some of which avoid their UK tax obligations), you really get the feeling that the odds are stacked against the sole trader.

But there is hope. I've already written about good old fashioned customer service like at this brilliant Fishmongers in South London.

Then there's cross category reward schemes to take on the might of Nectar. Ice Rewards is an interesting example i came across recently...

"a flexible customer reward programme whose mission is to mitigate climate change via mass consumer purchase power. The Idea is that by changing small things we do and buy every day, together we can minimise harm to the environment, help mitigate climate change and preserve the ice caps."

...providing a heightened sense of reward for the shopper and a further hook for the retailer.

Now it seems that even Amex is getting in on the act. The notoriously pricey payment method is rarely found in independent stores, so Amex has put a scheme together to tackle exactly that problem and drive footfall for stores in the process.

"Small Shop" aims to support small businesses by offering £5 cash back to shoppers when they spend over £5 in participating shops throughout November. Having received the mailshot, a relatively smooth sign up on line quickly offered me an interactive map. It's incredibly clunky but to my amazement, there are plenty of participating shops, and not just in London, even darkest Lincolnshire can boast a handful of participating retailers.

While the flyer has limited impact, it does do the job of creating momentum which quickly moves online to forums like this.

It's a compelling offer for consumers, and provides footfall for retailers, it's just a shame that the user experience isn't better. Mobile would seemingly be the ideal medium by which to communicate this activity and keep it front of mind. Sadly the mobile experience isn't up to scratch. Yes you can link it to your foursquare account but i imagine that this is simply a relic of past campaigns in the U.S. as the Foursquare user base is still minimal over here in the UK. I would have thought that integrating the map into the existing Amex app or even creating a new one would have been highly beneficial to shoppers without too much hassle in the development phase.

Still, user experience aside - it's a great way for small independents to benefit from increased footfall without having to foot the bill for the awareness raising activity - hopefully it works, and could maybe become a permanent offering at a slightly reduced reward rate. Even double points would go a long way to maintaining this new 'small shopping' behaviour amongst the rewards hungry Amex card holder.