Local commerce is changing – fast! Gone are the days where you had to look up a pet store in the Yellow Pages, carry around a wad of cash in your back pocket or even leave the house to buy groceries. Directories have moved online and on-demand services are making it more convenient to access local goods and services. Until now, bricks & mortar retailers have been slow to keep up with the rise of Amazon & e-commerce. However, big names such as Google, eBay & Square are betting on local retail & using the online infrastructure that ecommerce has created to transform the way we interact with the offline world.
Tech companies are utilizing the four key aspects of the ecommerce framework as a foundation to enhance the local shopping:
1. Discovery 2. Purchasing 3. Receiving and 4. Engagement.
In terms of purchasing, Square has completely reimagined how we buy things offline. It is now possible for any local retailer, food truck or market stall to accept credit cards. For online purchases companies like Shopify and Tictail have democratized ecommerce, making it so cheap and easy, that now most local retailers have an online store.
The chink in ecommerce’s armor – the time it takes to receive purchases, is allowing local to thrive. Same-day-delivery services that rely on the inventory of local stores (eBay Now, Google Shopping Express & a whole host of startups) are demonstrating the need for location-based commerce. During eBay’s recent acquisition of Shutl, President Devin Wenig validated this saying that “approximately 75 percent of what people buy is local, found within 15 miles from their home” and that “Traditional retail isn’t going away.”
Recent advances in hardware technology have opened up interesting possibilities around in-store customer engagement. Apple’s iBeacon technology uses Bluetooth LE to allow companies like Shopkick to send personalized information & discounts direct to your mobile phone while browsing a shop. The equivalent of Amazon’s “you may also like” is now available in-store!
While technology advancements around purchasing, delivery & offline engagement are set to level the playing field for local retail, online discovery & engagement still do not match up with customers expectations of the “local experience”. The main player Yelp has been heavily criticized over fake reviews & acts predominantly as an online directory. Emerging social commerce companies like Wanelo & Fancy have improved product discovery & engagement by making it more social. However a focus on products mean it is still difficult for local stores to stand out.
bringhub has recently launched to address the issues surrounding discovery and engagement in local retail. The social marketplace helps you discover and buy from the best neighborhood stores. Users can search by category or use hyper-local neighborhood guides to find a store in a specific area. Similar to a Pinterest for local shopping users can “love” products & shops to curate their own localized shopping guide, which in turn allows discovery to be personalized based on interests, location & social recommendations. This is the first phase of bringhub’s mission to empower local retail, future products focus on enhancing the whole local shopping experience: discovery, buying, delivery & engagement.
This time last year Marc Andreessen (Andreessen Horowitz) predicted the death of traditional retail - “Software eats retail”, but there is no denying the market is developing in such a way that backs local commerce. Instead it seems Reid Hoffman (Greylock Partner, Linkedin Founder) has the correct perspective: “software will be used to transform certain offline retail experiences” not eliminate it. Why? Because local retail offers more than just products, it offers an experience & after all who wants to live in a ghost town without the culture and creativity local shopping brings with it?
