70% of Americans Prefer to Shop Local

You hear it all the time, “I love your store,” or “I want to support local,” and “I am over Amazon.” But it is no secret that millions of customers are going to Amazon’s market place to shop and buy. But in a survey of 1,500 Americans done by Intuit, they found that 70% of customers prefer to support local businesses through online and instore purchases.

Brands

Your retailers may not be giving customers the chance to shop for your merchandise on their sites, you are losing potential sales through your best retail channel for customer acquisition and lifetime value. You then must make the choice to spend more in marketing to acquire customers directly to your website or feed the beast and sell on Amazon. And that comes with a risk to your brand’s image and value to the customer. Amazon plays favorites to the brands that pay for their listings through advertising. This means other brands can pay to have their products show up when they are searching your brand name.

Retailers

Connecting with your in-store customers online is critical. It is proven that a majority of shoppers start their purchases online. This means your website needs to give customers the option to shop what you have to offer. “But I will never be able to compete with online prices,” so what is the point of trying to have an e-commerce site? A survey done in 2020 by Red Egg Marketing found that 82% of customers surveyed are willing to pay more for a product from a local retailer, and 8 out of 10 customers are willing to spend more money at local businesses. Your website should be treated as the first stop for your customers.

Exchange Collective

What does this mean for brands and retailers? Exchange Collective solves this problem – it allows people to support their local retailer and buy the brands they want. Brands win by controlling their product images and descriptions, Retailers win by having Brands manage the product data so they don’t have to.

In the past few years, it has become easier for retailers to set up e-commerce sites. Though it may be easier for retailers to set up a site, the day to day upkeep of products and inventory information are daunting tasks, and this means your brand may not be getting the exposure that it desires and/or have its inventory limited due to retailer constraints.

Brands now have the wonderful ability to turn ALL their local retailers into a marketplace that customers are hoping to use. By accessing the Exchange Collective Digital Supply Chain, brands can list everything they have available through the retail channel that customers prefer their local retailer.