1.    What is the Buy Local Santa Monica Member Survey?
The Buy Local Santa Monica Member Survey is an electronically-delivered, third-party hosted survey with two key objectives: 1) to solicit merchant feedback and guidance that will help the Buy Local SM Committee improve the campaign, its services, and merchant support efforts in FY 2012/13, and 2) to gather data and insights into what local merchants are doing to attract and retain customers so they can benchmark themselves and learn from their peers.  

Given today’s difficult economic conditions, local merchants continue to struggle to generate sufficient foot traffic and increase sales.  The results of this survey are being used to initiate a series of conversations about what strategies are proving effective, how local merchants can collaborate more effectively, and how Buy Local can support the local business community.  It is anticipated that the survey will be conducted every two years, giving the Buy Local Steering Committee and participating businesses an opportunity to implement recommendations and measure achievements.

2.    How were businesses selected to participate in the Buy Local survey?
All local businesses that are members of Buy Local were selected to participate in the survey.  

3.   What are the results of the Buy Local Members survey?  To view the 2011/12 Buy Local SM Members Survey results, click here.

4.    Who did Buy Local partner with to implement the survey?
Buy Local partnered with Stamppede, a Santa Monica-based company that helps local merchants increase sales from their existing customers and attract new customers using a mobile loyalty app.  In addition, the Boston Research Group (BRG) and the Research Data Technologies (RDT) generously offered to host and implement the survey itself.

4.    What is Buy Local doing with the results of the survey?
The purpose of the survey is to create a set of data-driven insights that enable Buy Local merchants to benchmark themselves against their peers and understand what others are doing to attract and retain customers.  All participating merchants will receive a pdf version of the final report.  The Buy Local Santa Monica Committee and our partner, Stamppede, also intend to disseminate the insights and information in a variety of ways including live meetings, webinars, BID presentations, etc. to stimulate conversations about how local merchants can collaborate more effectively to increase sales and help the community prosper.