Supporting Local Shopping is Supporting Your Family’s Future
“Beyond the unquestionable economic hit, we should also recognise that behind each of these small businesses is a small business owner – “ each with families, livelihoods, and dreams. Alan Thomas Simply Business UK CEO”
No business, big or small, has been able to escape the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic – two years of restrictions, lockdowns, and uncertainty, always takes its toll. The scale of the impact across this last year felt by the self-employed is abundantly clear in our latest research. COVID-19 will cost SMEs an estimated £126.6 billion – double what owners predicted it would cost them when asked a year ago. With six million SMEs in the UK – accounting for over 99% of all businesses, 33% of employment and 21% of all turnover – this £126.6 billion hole in the books of small businesses deals a huge blow to the economy, on both a national and global scale.
Sadly, everybody gets it, every city council does their best to support all their community. See an example from the city of Haringey where they promote “Live, Shop, Local”.
Every city does their best to help with marketing campaigns, and offer all kinds of support to its small businesses, but we all still have a responsibility to help these local mom and pops. The truth is, it’s not just about them, it’s about us.
Every small business is an integral part of the fabric of the cities we live in; our family and friends manage them, our kids go to school together, all in the same community.
Failing to support them is failing to support all of the hard-working people who live among us at the time they need it most! When we buy from Amazon or other companies who deliver and charge these sellers up to 40% on their margins, we simply aid the destruction of our city's local businesses, slowly but surely. The results go far beyond our kids losing access to the lifestyle that they used to have, enjoying local options and city life, but the lack of city taxes, will of course in return, make everyone’s tax go higher. It will impact the local services’ quality so the few dollars that maybe would be saved here and there will eventually cost each and every one of us so much more, prompting our taxes to continue to rise because less and less local businesses have money to pay them.
This is one of the reasons we created LiveShop, to give all local buyers a viable alternative to buy from Amazon-like shops. Everything you find on Amazon, you can surely find the same from local shops. We are trying to help the community by promoting local business e-commerce. In most cases, prices are equal and sometimes even cheaper - YES, you read it right!
Deliveries? Well, when you buy local, most products or services can be fulfilled the same day, or same hour. In your city, everyone is just around the corner!.
Quality? There’s simply no comparison there, your local sellers care about what they sell to you, and they care about making sure you want to come back. Local sellers put great consideration into making sure that the quality they deliver matches your expectations, and that if there is any issue, that it will be taken care of, and you walk away satisfied.
Before Amazon, people bought everything locally. The biggest change in landscape has been their ability to offer delivery, which is why, of course, we added this service to all local stores on the platform.
Shop Local! Not just for your local store owners, friends and family, but for yourself! Help preserve the quality of life we all care about so we can make sure it continues to thrive.
Technology should not be used to replace these stores, but rather, to enhance their success and to support the communities from which they were born. Technology is here to support us, to help us, but only with your support! We are dedicated to supporting all local communities, for more information about being a local seller, check out our site!