An innovative shopping scheme in a Shropshire town has proved to be a huge success.
Love Bridgnorth secured funding two years ago from Shropshire Council for the ‘ShopAppy’ initiative which opened up huge new markets for local traders.
Bridgnorth became the first town in the county to benefit from the scheme, encouraging more people to shop locally and showcasing their products and services to a national audience.
“ShopAppy brings local traders and customers together and it has been incredibly successful, with 84 retailers promoting 2,432 products – way above comparable sites in the country,” said Sally Themans of Love Bridgnorth, a campaign which promotes the town and organises campaigns to boost footfall.
The ShopAppy platform puts all the Bridgnorth businesses on one website – with one checkout – enabling people to browse and search for products before physically visiting a shop or ordering online.
Sally added: “I want to thank both Shropshire Council and all of the businesses who got involved. The site received 44,642 page views and had 6,342 users and came up in 2,822 organic searches, meaning that people were looking at products and shops, most probably before deciding whether or not to visit. Retail experts estimate that that pre-visit online activity will have generated much needed footfall and sales.”
The digital shop front for Bridgnorth retailers and businesses now has a small subscription fee, giving a good online showcase for products and services as well as acting as a great advert for physical shops and businesses and it is free to use for shoppers.
CAPTION: Debbie Richards of home fragrance business Henry & Co, which took part in the scheme.
