What Is Purple Tuesday?

It’s getting to that time of year again where the shops become heaving with irritable customers doing their Christmas shopping and stocking up for winter. For disabled customers, it’s when the stress and intensity of trying to tackle these obstacles becomes evident. This is why Purple Tuesday, the UK’s first accessible shopping day initiated by Purple back in 2018, is a great cause to get involved in so each and every customer can enjoy a hassle-free experience when shopping!

Purple Tuesday, being held on 12th November, is about boosting the all-important purple pound. This is the spending power of disabled customers and their families and with over 12 million disabled people in the UK, the purple pound is now worth £249 billion and is said to be increasing at a rate of 14% each year! In fact, it’s worth a whopping £2.25 trillion worldwide!

How Are Organisations Getting Involved?

Purple Tuesday is also all about raising awareness and changing the experience for disabled customers. So, more and more organisations and their teams are making a substantial difference each day, offering a new, modern outlook to the market in the hope of generating more accessible products and services. With the help of revolutionary technology and the cause itself, the independence and control of disabled customers is only improving which is exactly what Purple was aiming to do when first creating the call to action! In fact, businesses are setting themselves up to lose themselves approximately £2 million a month by ignoring the needs of disabled customers which showcases just how crucial changing the experience for these customers really is for all of us!

PUBLIC COMMITMENTS

There are a number of well-known organisations that have taken this on board and have been getting involved in Purple Tuesday, including Asda, Argos, Sainsbury’s, Barclays and Marks & Spencer. One great way that they are doing their bit sustainably for Purple Tuesday is by making public commitments which will be at least one activity or action. Some worthwhile commitment ideas already being demonstrated by these big-name brands are suggested on Purple’s website. These include valuable activities such as providing customer service training for staff and completing a site access audit so organisations can identify exactly where they need to increase physical space to improve that critical accessibility!

ONLINE SHOPPING

Now, you’re probably asking yourself, what about those that want to shop online? After all, online shopping is the way to go now and especially for those with disabilities, it can be a much handier way of getting what you need without facing the in-store havoc! However, it doesn’t exactly mean that it’s more accessible. According to Purple’s research, 73% of disabled customers have said they have experienced restrictions on more than a quarter of websites they have visited! So, another one of their commitment ideas being illustrated by a number of businesses is the completion of an online accessibility audit, helping them identify where they can improve their website for disabled online customers.

How Are The Mobility Aids Centre Supporting Purple Tuesday?

At The Mobility Aids Centre, we have been specialising in mobility excellence for over 33 years, enhancing disabled people’s day-to-day-living with our mobility aids. Therefore, we understand how important raising awareness for this worthwhile cause is, and we have been one of the organisations keen to get involved! To show our appreciation and support, we will be giving some exclusive deals to all our customers this Purple Tuesday, keep an eye on our Facebook page to find out more!

If you need more guidance on accessibility when shopping or you need some advice on what mobility aids could be most suitable for you, feel free to contact our specialists today on 01733 343242 or take a look at what mobility products we have to offer on our website.