For the month of November 2023, you could win one of 10 $10,000 Shop Small Business Grants. Every time you shop online or in-store at a Shop Small business, you’ll receive an automatic entry into the draw. You must enrol your eligible American Express to participate in the Shop Small promotion. 

You could also win 1 million points by shopping Shop Small. You’ll earn entries every time you make a purchase of at least AUD$1 through a Shop Small business. You’ll earn points from the rewards program your card is enrolled with – either Membership Rewards points, Qantas points or Velocity points. 10 lucky winners will win 1 million points each.

What is Shop Small?

Amex gives small businesses and cardholders the chance to benefit from its Shop Small movement. Shop Small is allows Aussie businesses to register as merchants and be listed on the Amex site and app for Amex cardholders to shop with. Each year, Amex holds a Shop Small event to encourage Australians to shop locally. You can see the current businesses enrolled with Amex Shop Small on its map here.

Shopping with Shop Small Businesses

First, here’s how to register with Shop Small. 

If you already have an American Express online account:

1. Start by logging in to your American Express online account.
2. Scroll down to the section ‘Amex Offers’.
3. Find the Shop Small offer and click ‘Save to Card’.
4. You are now enrolled in Shop Small for this year.

If you have an American Express card and want to enrol manually:

1. Visit the enrollment page for the 2023 Shop Small offer.
2. Input your name, email and card details.
3. Click ‘Save to Card’.

Once your card is enrolled, you’ll automatically earn entries every time you spend at least $1 on purchases with enrolled businesses.

Which cards work with Shop Small?

Any Amex Rewards card is eligible for enrolment with the Shop Small program. If you’re looking at getting a new Amex card, you can compare some great ones on our comparison guide. Many Amex rewards cards come with enormous sign-up bonuses and several loyalty programs to choose from. 

The History of Shop Small

American Express first introduced its Shop Small campaign back in 2013. Designed to encourage card members to spend within small businesses, that first campaign gave card members $10 back each time they spent more than $20 on their card at participating retailers.

Limited to a week-long period at the end of November, the campaign allowed card members to benefit from that $10 credit up to five times, providing a total of $50 credit back onto their card.

Over the years, American Express continued to offer Shop Small events, varying the spend amount, the amount of credit provided back to the card member, and the length of the campaign – all the while, keeping each campaign fairly short.

The 2022 Shop Small event finished in March 2022, after giving card members the opportunity to earn up to a maximum of 40,000 points, providing an extra 3 points per $1 on their small business spend. Amex cardholders supported Shop Small by making 3.5 million purchases in 2022, which injected $545 million into local businesses.