Imagine finding prices for any product or service offered within your community all on a single website.

No need to call around or hop in the car to see what’s available. And no need to head to a big box store, because the local entrepreneur down the street that you found online offers better service and selection.

Every local business - retail stores with product inventory, health professionals and contractors - have their rates posted in an online marketplace, enabling you to easily shop online from work or home with local businesses in your community.

Rates, availability, hours of operation and methods of payment are all there in the ShopCity.com marketplace. And planning your local purchases couldn’t be easier.

You still usually choose to visit a business in-person, but you know exactly what to expect when you get there.

Strengthening Local Businesses

Once on the brink due to competitive pressure from conglomerates and a declining economy, local small businesses are thriving once again. It took a while, but independent businesses in the area decided to band together rather than compete individually against the big box stores. They settled on a call-to-action ‘shop local’ brand and marketed it heavily with hundreds of signs and stickers.

The campaign encouraged consumers to shop locally and directed them to a web destination that made it easy to find every local business in the community. Consumers could learn what businesses had to offer and even buy online. Many shoppers who visited the site subscribed to the newsletter, making it a hub of community commerce. The Chamber and local government even got involved.

Strengthening Local Economies

As consumers began using the site, more businesses followed. They began posting their products and services in the marketplace creating a one-stop shop for the entire community. The cycle of support stimulated the local economy by increasing the percentage of sales going to local small businesses and decreasing the sales at competing big box stores and internet retailers.

Because local businesses kept 43% of their revenue circulating locally, instead of the 14% that big box stores recirculated, local merchants and workers in the community became more prosperous and confident in their future. Entrepreneurs began hiring more staff and increasing salaries, encouraging their employees to shop locally and focus on quality instead of price.

Increased demand for products and services reversed the deflation brought by the recession. Sales and profits increased generating more local sales tax revenue and enabling businesses to donate more to non-profits. A strong local economy was re-born and the future was bright once again.