At Totally Locally we believe that Independent Shops & Businesses are the lifeblood of our towns. We’ve been helping those towns for over 10 years now, through our free ‘Town Kit’, the Totally Locally campaign and the amazing Fiver Fest.
WE ALSO BELIEVE THE FUTURE OF INDEPENDENT HIGH STREETS is a combination of bricks & mortar shops with a strong online presence.
This has become increasingly so during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen 63% of shoppers researching purchases online before entering a store*
We’ve been developing the ‘Local Independent High Streets Online’ project
Town-based websites and apps that bring together their independent businesses, all in one place. Customers can buy products from multiple local shops and pay with one easy payment at checkout, then choose click & collect or delivery options.
Your town can have its own app/website, where locals will be able to browse and order anything for sale locally.
This is about allowing people to choose where they shop, supporting their local businesses and helping to keep their own high streets alive.
We help set up an app and website for your town. Each business gets a secure, bespoke online shop. Shoppers can choose to support their town by visiting, browsing and buying from multiple shops and businesses in the place they live. Just like on your real high street.
Add all this up and it makes sense to create a place where people can support shops and businesses where they live – online!
During Covid lockdown, with help from Visa, we developed our own web solution to bring entire towns online – a multi-vendor marketplace for your town… Amazon for Indies!
This is now retired but we’re now partnering with a technology company to bring an app and web-based solution to entire high streets. To find out more get in touch.
You can view snapshots of our solution here:
HEBDEN BRIDGE was our pilot town for web-only ‘Local Independent Towns Online’
You can an archive of this site here>>
In HALIFAX we partnered with Cargodale and Halifax Market for free delivery via electric cargobike.
You can view an archive of the site here>>
Our friends in LEEK heped us setup one of our first town sites.
You can an archive of this site here>>
For SOUTHEND-ON-SEA several organisations joined forces for a borough-wide site that spanned 7 towns.
You can view an archive of the site here>>
The Totally Locally Hebden Bridge Website on BBC Breakfast & News, plus on ITV Evening News.
So why are we doing this?
59% of shoppers in Britain have used more local stores and services to help support them during lockdown**
57% of shoppers say they will be more likely to spend money at a business that offers locally produced products**
63% of shoppers are researching online before entering a store.* So make sure they get to see what you sell!
* According to data from the British Retail Consortium, 63 percent of consumers are researching online before entering a store.
**All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2140 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 22nd – 26th May 2020. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 16+).