In the past week, I have needed items for my office.  I haven’t had the time to go door to door in local stores to get what I needed.  I pulled out my phone and searched for what I needed, found it, purchased it and it was delivered to my door within  two days.  Probably could have found it locally ,but the stores offering what I needed, did not show up in the SERP ( search engine results pages) Sure your business name may have come up, but it doesn’t show if you have what I needed nor did it say that you carried something that would work just the same or even better. 

 When COVID-19 hit, many, many local stores were unprepared to move their businesses to a digital platform.  Some increased their social media, ( but so did hundreds of thousands of other small businesses), some purchased e-commerce software, ( so did 1000 others per day) and some finally bought a website. ( there is presently 8+ Billion websites on the Internet)  Some, even purchased the SEO with their websites. ( Truly this is like paying for added insurance on a car rental: pricey,somewhat ineffective and lacking necessary details) All of these steps are needed to compete in today’s world. I have listened to local officials, business organizations all encouraging communities  to shop local, support local.  While many of these same local leaders say that they shop online,  purchase from Amazon, listing reasons of convenience and ease of use. 

  So how do we compete? We come together.  We work together, one platform, one virtual marketplace that showcases all local products and services in one location.  ShopBayofQuinte.ca doesn’t sell Red Running Shoes.  But , I have a video about selling Red Running Shoes.  Here is where Red Running Shoes in Bay of Quinte is ranking:

I know that one platform with local businesses offering their local products and services will be successful. Why? Because I asked local consumers. What is needed for you to shop local?

Here is what they said:

Do you find it difficult to shop online locally?   72.09% said yes .

Would a local platform with all local shops in one location, assist you in shopping locally? Would you use this platform to shop locally?    39% said Always, 38% Usually, 19% sometimes, only 4% said rarely or never.

ShopBayofQuinte.ca is locally owned, locally operated. We are invested in our community, we pay taxes here, we support local sports teams, charities and we hire local.

Here is what I am offering every independently owned business in the Quinte Region and in Central Hastings:  3 FREE months on our platform, free use of all of our online tools to grow your business. That includes e-commerce.  A free digital consultation to showcase your strengths and weaknesses.  On going support and training to grow your business with our platform. 

Why are we as local businesses using international companies to grow local businesses? ShopBayofQuinte is committed to growing our local community.  We need you to do this.  Contact us today for your free consultation and to get started to grow the Quinte Region.

Best regards,

Michelle Uens
Belleville Resident for the past 50 years.