Local Chambers of Commerce urge people to stop buying so much from Amazon

As Amazon Prime Day deals fill up online shopping carts, the Chatham-Kent Chamber of Commerce has issued an anti-Prime Day message, encouraging you to shop local instead.

Already underway, Amazon Prime Day happens on July 16 and July 17 this year with highly promoted discounts, but local business officials are urging people to pause and consider the impacts of your purchasing decisions.

"Roughly for every dollar spent locally, it has a $7 to $10 economic impact," said Chamber President and CEO, Rory Ring.

Ring said the Chatham-Kent Chamber has about 350 members that represent upwards of 40 per cent of local businesses, reminding shoppers that it's important to shop local, even if it's at franchise ventures.

"They employ people and then those people go and spend their money locally. They go for dinner, they go to the movies, they go bowling, they go to the markets, they go to music events. They go to all these things that make community and that generates that pebble in the pond in your local economy."

Ring said while Prime Day promises exclusive deals, supporting local businesses is a better choice when profits stay local. He believes it increases the community’s wealth, tax revenue and standard of living.

"If you're looking to sponsor a girls’ soccer team, ice hockey team or for a team to go to another location to compete in an event, where do you go? You go to your local businesses for sponsorships and to help."

Ring told CTV News many small businesses have done upgrades to their own online presence, noting many small businesses offer promotions during Prime Day.

"The competitiveness of online shopping is that more small businesses are investing in their digital footprint to allow for locals to buy locally and that, I think, is a tremendous and positive outcome."

Ring continued, "from the emphasis and the marketing that's going on around using Amazon as a way to get great deals, those great deals can be found locally, but they're all supported locally by the retailers or the service providers. If there's any other issues, you don't have to go back to the post office and repackage it. So it's extremely important for us to be, doing these type of things."

Meantime, officials at the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce echo the same sentiment.

"We urge everyone in our community to go out and lend support," said President and CEO, Rakesh Naidu. "It's these small businesses, local businesses, that when they’re around, they make our region more vibrant, thriving more. They support the economy and they give back so much to the community."

Naidu noted online savings are hard to deny, but small and local businesses are the backbone of the local economy.

"There are some good deals to be had. But, at the same time, we need to make sure that while consumers are benefiting, we are also ensuring that our businesses continue to be around, continue to be viable. And for that reason, while we are happy that the consumers are getting some great deals, we want to make sure that everyone remembers it is important for our economy, for the region to continue to support our local businesses."