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Date: 8/2/2022
EASTHAMPTON — The Chamber of Greater Easthampton recently announced the launch to its the new Shop Where I Live e-commerce initiative. The website went live on June 30 and is now open for consumers to purchase goods and services from Easthampton businesses.
In 2021, The chamber and the city of Easthampton partnered to create a Local Rapid Recovery Plan with funding from the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development. They were awarded technical assistance for creating the online platform, one of the projects identified through the partnership between the city and the Easthampton Planning Department to develop a COVID-19 Recovery Strategic Plan.
This project is just one of those listed as a vital component of building consistent resilience and economic recovery. A $15,000 grant from The Massachusetts Office of Business Development (MOBD) for the Regional Economic Development Organization (REDO) Grant Program was awarded for the two-year pilot for the Shop Where I Live website.
“This platform brings our local businesses into the online marketplace. It represents an important opportunity to help small businesses build resiliency not only as a result of the COVID-19 crisis but for the long term as well,” said Moe Belliveau, executive director of the Greater Easthampton Area Chamber of Commerce.
She explained that during the pandemic, some businesses had the opportunity and resources to embark upon e-commerce while many did not. This new platform provides a wider window of opportunity to offer an online marketplace and shopping with the convenience of being a one-cart, one-payout model.
Customers can shop at multiple merchants or services with the options to choose local in-store, curbside pickup or have their purchase delivered to their doorstep directly from each business, all with just a single checkout and with the convenience of shopping from home. “You know e-commerce statistics show that e-commerce will make up 22 percent of global retail sales by 2023 versus 14.1 percent in 2019, so it’s growing. Most purchases will be made on desktop tablets and or mobile devices. So, it allows more resiliency – it gives more options,” Belliveau said.
ShopwhereILive is not limited to just retail but to service providers as well. For example, sellers such as Taylor Real Estate have the option of having a tab on their link for potential buyers to make inquiries, which Belliveau said is “a direct hot lead for them.”
“Programs like this will help businesses evolve in response to the [coronavirus] pandemic and be more sustainable. Alongside initiatives such as Blueprint Easthampton, which give support to new entrepreneurs, assisting with creating a hyper-local option to shop online is a perfect fit for Easthampton’s continued economic growth,” said Mayor Nicole LaChapelle.
Belliveau noted that the site continues to grow and said they are receiving new inquiries daily. “The goal is to have as many businesses who would like to participate, to be ready for the holiday season. This is a chamber member benefit, and that doesn’t mean it’s not exclusive to the chamber. So, if you are a business who’s not a member, you also have the ability to participate, you get your first year free and then after that, you can make a choice whether to join the chamber to continue on as an as a member benefit or you to pay the fee. It gives folks who have not yet made that choice some flexibility. I just wanted to give it some time to be it’s kind of like a soft launch. But now we’re ready. We’re open for – we’re ready for consumers,” she said.
For more information, visit Easthampton.ShopWhereILive.com.