With e-commerce and online shopping becoming more popular, it is becoming increasingly difficult for brick-and-mortar stores to stay competitive. Consumers are drawn to the convenience of online shopping through marketplaces, and often opt for the convenience rather than physically going to a store. As a result, many traditional businesses have been hurt by the rise in popularity of online marketplaces.
Small businesses play an important role in local economies and communities, and there are steps that a community can take to help support these businesses and counteract the impact of online marketplaces.
5 Steps Your Community Can Take to Counter the “Amazon Effect”
- Unite your small businesses.
- Local small businesses have a greater chance of success when they come together and leverage the collective strengths, resources, and expertise of the network. Partnering with a trusted local organization such as a main street, chamber or other small business champion will allow them to collaborate more effectively and create solutions that are bigger than what any single business can achieve on their own.
- Market as a community.
- Organizations and the small businesses they’re made of should come together to pool a portion of their marketing budgets into one larger fund to make more impactful advertising campaigns and leverage the collective connection of each individual business.
- When creating marketing material, organizations should highlight the unique businesses that are part of this unified effort, as customers may be drawn to those specific services or products offered by each business. They should also make sure to emphasize how visiting, spending time in, and shopping local helps create a positive economic environment for the whole community.
- Provide incentives for local shopping.
- Local communities should consider offering incentives to encourage their citizens to shop locally. In today’s age, customers are looking for more than just discounts when it comes to shopping. The types of incentives that local towns can offer are more experiential than financial, as coupons and discounts can often be found online more easily.
- Shop local incentives should not only provide tangible rewards and incentives for customers, but they also build a sense of community in the local area. These sorts of incentives will create lasting memories and make customers feel valued by their community while also supporting small businesses. This provides a sense of excitement for customers and incentivizes them to come back for future purchases.
- Organize events that expose customers to your local shops.
- Organize regular events in your local shopping district that give shoppers a reason to visit – from weekly farmers markets to monthly street festivals featuring live music, vendors and art displays. This not only brings people into the community, it also gives them something fun and engaging to do while they’re there, making it an even more attractive destination for shoppers.
- These types of initiatives build a sense of community in the local area, and create an environment where both shoppers and business owners benefit from the patronage given in town. By hosting these events regularly, it will draw more people into the town and promote your local shops in the process.
- These events give potential shoppers something fun to look forward to. Be sure to market your future events to keep them coming back for all the amazing things that the town has to offer!
- Organize regular events in your local shopping district that give shoppers a reason to visit – from weekly farmers markets to monthly street festivals featuring live music, vendors and art displays. This not only brings people into the community, it also gives them something fun and engaging to do while they’re there, making it an even more attractive destination for shoppers.
- Create your own online small business local marketplace.
- No matter how vibrant your community is, online shopping likely is taking sales away from small businesses in your community. The good news is that small retailers can still establish and foster an online presence by selling through a localized marketplace platform.
- Consider a platform that allows your small businesses to still foster their independent business identity on the platform, but provide the convenience for customers to shop, browse, and buy from several businesses with a ONE CLICK CHECKOUT process.
A local online marketplace can bring a variety of benefits to a community, such as uniting small businesses into one platform and providing easy marketing tools, online incentives for shoppers, and access to tickets, gift cards, and experiences that will draw people into your area.
By creating an online marketplace through Member Marketplace, you can help drive customers to local businesses while providing them with incentives and experiences that cannot be found elsewhere online. With this tool, your organization can help make sure that the small business owners in your community are supported even in this era of marketplace shopping.
Contact us today for more information on how we can help your community create its own marketplace!
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