Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) and Visa announced the launch of the “Big Difference with a Purchase,” campaign to support small businesses that make up 99% of SMEs, the backbone of the economy, during the pandemic. The goal of the campaign is to appeal to consumers across the country, encouraging everyone to meet their needs from local small businesses in the area where they live.

- Pandemic and changing conditions affect small businesses

While small businesses all over the world and in Turkey tried to continue their activities under the new conditions created by the pandemic, they also faced the obligation to move their activities online and accept digital payments. A Survey of SMEs in Europe by Visa reveals that 65% of small businesses are concerned about the future of their companies.

- Small businesses have a big place in the life of the consumer

According to another study by Visa, consumers welcome and support the call to do their shopping from small businesses in their neighborhoods in order to raise awareness. Respondents said they tend to view small business employees in their neighborhoods as friends or family members, while shopping at these businesses further connects them to the area where they live.

- “Let's support small businesses with our shopping”

Emphasizing that SMEs are the backbone of the country's economy, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said, in regards to the campaign, “Small businesses were the most affected by the pandemic. Since the beginning of the pandemic, they have either been closed or unable to operate at full capacity. This led to their inability to cover their costs, difficulty accessing financing, and disruptions in their supply chains. Now we are seeing a revival in the economy with a period of controlled normalization. The most important source of this revival is consumer spending. I believe that if we channel these expenditures correctly, we will achieve the economic recovery much faster. Small businesses play a big role here, too. Small businesses, SMEs are the backbone of our country's economy, the lifeblood of employment. Therefore, our support to small businesses as consumers during this revival will enable the economy to recover faster, small businesses to resume their activities from where they left off, and supply and value chains to function in a healthy way again. In this context, as TOBB and Visa, we have started the “Big Difference with a Purchase” campaign. With this campaign, we want to emphasize that consumers can support small businesses with their purchases, and we want to state that a purchase is very important for small businesses. We want the voices of small businesses to never dim, their place in our lives not to be lost, and we invite everyone to support this campaign.”

- “Don't let the voice of small businesses be silenced”

Commenting on the “Big Difference with a Purchase,” campaign, Visa Turkey General Manager Merve Tezel said, “Small businesses enrich our economic life as well as our social life.  As Visa, we attach great importance to the ability of these enterprises to continue their activities in a healthy way in our country as well as in the world. From the beginning of the pandemic, we continued to help small businesses move their business online and support them to accept electronic payments with our I Can Manage My Business project. Now, we aim to raise awareness about the benefits of shopping from small businesses to our economy and society by launching Visa's 'Big Difference with a Purchase' campaign in Europe for 3 years in cooperation with TOBB.  With this call, we say that 'the voices of small businesses should never end, their place in our lives should never be lost.'”

- Real owners and employees of enterprises starred in the campaign film

Visa has also launched a commercial to bring its “Big Difference with a Purchase” call to a wider audience. Starring real small business owners and employees rather than professional actors, the film echoes the working voices of various businesses such as grocery stores, tailors, florists, coffee shops, shoe shiners, food vendors, which we all know well.