Smaller or emerging merchants might be intimidated by today's business landscape, especially when considering they don't have the resources to outspend larger, more established brands in marketing, or provide rock bottom prices. So how are small merchants expected to draw customers to their local, independent locations?

They've created an annual event with their company's name all over it. But that doesn't mean that a small business can't benefit from Small Business Saturday. All you need to do is focus on the marketing. And learn from the masters at AMEX.

With justifiable alarm, owners of all sizes of physical businesses are witnessing the white-hot holiday shopping battle, where the front lines are increasingly conducted as real time price wars.

Small Business Saturday has gathered momentum since American Express began the promotion in 2010 to provide smaller companies more exposure during one of the most important shopping weekends of the year.

It doesn't matter if you've got a brick and mortar business or run a virtual store, you need a holiday sales plan. Don't make the mistake of not being prepared to deal with a high volume of shoppers this holiday.

By shopping small, we can help America's small businesses do what they do best: grow their businesses, create good jobs and ensure that our communities are vibrant.

Rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy will be tough for small businesses, those workhorses and job-generators of the economy, but the Saturday after Thanksgiving is an opportunity for communities, shoppers and businesses themselves to ratchet up the recovery.

An estimated 103 million Americans shopped at small businesses on Small Business Saturday, exceeding the pre-Thanksgiving projection of 89 million sho...

As a former small business owner, I decided to put my money where my opinions were on Small Business Saturday.