Via ShopCity.com
Imagine being able to find prices for any product or service offered within your community. No more calling around and driving to see what’s on offer.
Every local business from retail stores with product inventory to health professionals and contractors with hourly rates have their pricing and availability posted transparently in a marketplace, enabling you to truly shop from home or work from the internet for the first time.
This is the promise of ShopCity.com and something we have been working steadily on for almost ten years.
We plan to make it easy and convenient for you to support local businesses and to help tie your local business community together in a way that's never been done before.
It's a huge and audacious goal, but it's necessary if small businesses and entrepreneurs are to successfully compete with internet retailers like Amazon.com and big box stores like Walmart, Home Depot and Target, who are increasingly becoming service providers as well.
The lack of pricing transparency and even general business information - including hours of operation, methods of payment and email address - is really limiting the growth of local small businesses and is something that needs to be addressed for these businesses to succeed in an increasingly competitive world where information is available on-demand.
Why support local businesses?
There are hundreds of reasons to support local businesses, many of which we've listed on this 'Why Shop Local' page, but the main reason is to keep your local economy strong and vibrant.
In these challenging economic times, rather than be consumed with the economic stress that's going on in the world, just focus on keeping your community strong - it's a lot easier to wrap your head around issues at a local level than those at a huge global level (ie. global economic meltdown, the real estate crisis, war, etc.) that the media is always going on about.
Sure, those global issues are important, but what's more important is that you DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT and try to insulate yourself from the negative effects they cause. It's much easier to do that in a less disconnected, smaller environment - like your local community.
If everyone were to stop watching the endless stream of global problems on TV that make us feel rather powerless and insignificant, and instead concentrate on making their neighborhoods, towns and cities better places to live, change for the better would happen much more quickly and the global problems would eventually take care of themselves anyway.
For example - why watch CNN or Fox parrot on about the jobs crisis in the US and then feel vulnerable to this huge problem that's beyond your control? Take that energy, put it into keeping your local economy strong by supporting the businesses that recirculate your dollars in the community and create true local wealth and encourage others to do the same.
The next thing you know, YOUR local economy will be strong and YOUR local unemployment rate will be low - does it then matter so much what the TV newscasters are telling you is happening half way across the country or the world? Now, if everyone does the same thing and starts DOING SOMETHING because THEY CAN, imagine the effect.
The bottom line is that it's a lot easier to DO SOMETHING on a local level because the problems are much more tangible and manageable, the feedback is more direct and it's easier to solicit support because people are strongly connected and easily accessible.
At the end of the day, our strength as human beings comes from our ability to educate and our ability to perform service for others.
Educating those around us can happen regardless of everything else in your life, and we will provide you with materials to help you understand the issues so that you can better communicate the importance of this message.
Performing service for others is how we earn money, which can be exchanged for things we want and need to form our personal experiences. Therefore, how you spend your money is how you exercise your power that has been accumulated through servicing others.
Your purchasing decisions are among your most important and you should not underestimate the impact your money can have if spent wisely with people who are working towards the same goals as you are.
If you spend your money with those who are also strengthening the local economy by keeping their purchases local and by using the efficiencies of the internet to their advantage, you will be multiplying the effect of your purchasing power. This will lead to faster and stronger results which would include higher local employment rates, increased wages, increased local choice, more local entrepreneurs taking action, increased funds available for local projects like parks, health care centers and community facilities. It all starts with YOU, on a local level.
So, how does it all work?
Every town and city in North America (and most in Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa and the rest of the english-speaking world) now has a local marketplace they can use to organize and promote the businesses, products and services found locally in the community.
These marketplaces all share a common theme and name - ie. ShopNewYork.com, ShopBoston.com, ShopMiami.com and ShopMidland.com.
Upon visiting the site that represents your community, you'll see a large search field in the top right corner - this is your new local search engine to find the information you need to make informed purchasing decisions.
You'll also find a categorized business directory and marketplace, coupons, a reviews section, restaurant menus, email gift certificates and many more features to make shopping locally fun, easy and convenient.
For those of you with iPhones, visit the site on your mobile and you'll get a special quick access version that makes it even faster to find what you're looking for locally.
Use these tools to purchase, provide feedback, educate and share information that will help you strengthen your local economy.
Every participating business in the community will have a profile page
that includes their essential information, and those that are also
working to support the local economy will also have photos, stories and reviews that tell you what they are doing to help
keep it local. Their
coupons, menus and marketplace items will let you know what's on offer, and you can use the Shop Around feature to find anything that isn't listed.
Look for ShopCity.com window stickers, signs and lawn signs at participating businesses who are also working to support the local economy and solve problems at a local level and work with them to increase the portion of your income you spend with them.
Don't blindly support businesses just because they're local, first read their stories and see how their beliefs, products and services tie in with your vision and then support those who are most closely aligned.
This will lead to better capitalized local entrepreneurs who will take the lead in helping to make your community a better place and lead to strong, sustainable and resilient local economies with decentralized control.
Partners wanted
We are actively looking for partners to help us introduce this system into the more than 20,000 communities represented.
If you're a representative from a municipal government, chamber of commerce or other business group, or a concerned company or individual, please visit www.shopcity.com and find your local community using the search field.
Please visit www.shopcity.com/partners for more information.
More information
Thank you for reading this message. Please keep in touch with us to learn how we can work together to strengthen your local economy, help you maximize your purchasing power and, if you're an entrepreneur, grow your business.
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