It’s officially holiday shopping season! While most of us will be doing our holiday shopping online this year (a reported 42 percent say they’ll be doing all of their shopping online), before you hit that “buy” button online, consider your local merchants.
On this morning’s WJR Business Beat, Jeff talks about the importance of supporting local merchants this holiday season, and how new platforms like Shop Mainstreet can make holiday shopping easier than ever before.
Tune in to the WJR Business Beat to hear more from Jeff:
“Just in time for the holiday shopping season, enjoy shopping locally from the comfort of your own home, knowing that you are keeping your hard-earned dollars to work in your local community.”
– Jeff Sloan
To learn more about the downtown Farmington merchants mentioned in this segment, visit Shop Mainstreet here.
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Good morning, holiday shoppers.
Yes, that’s right, it’s holiday shopping season. Of course, this year will be different from most. Many of us will be doing most, if not all, of our shopping online this year. Nearly 42 percent of us say we’re going all online with our holiday shopping.
However, before you hit that “buy” button online, think about this: your local merchants, stores in your communities, those that support the little league teams your kids play on with their sponsorships, those that employ people in your community, those merchants whose proprietors’ kids go to school with your kids, those who, when you spend a hundred dollars with them, $68 stays in your local community to improve schools and parks and beautify your town, and those who offer a shopping experience, not just an opportunity to buy something, need your purchases this holiday season like never before.
Remember this: local merchants have responded to our public health needs and consumers’ new demands by launching innovative omni-channel approaches to selling to you, fulfilling orders and accepting payments from you.
Merchants are embracing contactless payments in store, e-commerce offerings and other methods as they work to adapt to the current challenges they now face.
And new platforms are emerging all the time. We can even buy from our local merchants online with platforms like Shop Mainstreet, where you can shop your favorite local merchants virtually.
That’s right, buy from them online just as you can from the big name online platforms. The shopyourmainstreet.com platform has just been released in Oakland County and is growing.
For example, check out the local stores coming online in Farmington. Just in time for the holiday shopping season, enjoy shopping locally from the comfort of your own home, knowing that you are keeping your hard earned dollars to work in your local community.
All of these initiatives undertaken by local merchants and local eateries offer you new ways to buy and are designed to keep you safe while doing business with them and to earn your patronage.
Let’s all remember to send some love to a local merchant or local eatery this season by buying from them instead this year, when they need you and your purchases most.
I’m Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of StartupNation.com, and that’s today’s Business Beat on the Great Voice of the Great Lakes, WJR.
