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Mail to Philip M
Assuming that recent events may have derailed our initial efforts and closed this conversation. I admire such community have a go approaches, but I do wonder whether this entirely voluntary-led approach has been thought through? Does it address the real structural problems that high streets (and their residents ... lets not forget them) actually face? What happens after the current crisis? We are already inundated with a surfeit of convenience economy offerings, which ain't very sustainable. Is the future really just more of the same? Happy to provide advice to local business or anyone that has outgrown the DIY approach and wants to embrace technology and change fully....
Two after thoughts
2 after thoughts:- a) the marketplace apps are pretty cool, but have rather a lot of moving parts ... another simpler implementation is to put everything inside a single shop, and manually forward the sale info to the shop partner, who would then contact and satisfy the customer. The shop partner doesn't get their own admin area. The shop manager does all the donkey work. Shop partner at the end of the month or whenever you decide gets a bank payment, minus your admin fees. Advantage, there's no recurring monthly fees for the marketplace turnkey solution. Disadvantage, there's inevitable manual processing. Shop keepers...
Just 2 days after the initial approach
So .... I've setup a development store and looked very very briefly at the marketplace applications that would enable a Localburgh style site. They all have a monthly fee which goes from a tenner (3 vendors) to hundreds of $$. They have trials running from 2 weeks to 30 days, which indicates that some time is required to assure yourself that it is the right product for you. https://dunbarlocal.projectspoint.co.uk/ is a development holding page and requires a password, which at this stage please do not share. I've just used some the "totally locally" design assets, which I "localised" a while...
Some first thoughts
I would not at this stage give too much away ... create a sense of anticipation and excitement as far as possible. I think you will need a decent working name - preferably without online to avoid confusion with the facebook page ... Dunbar Locally might fit the bill but check it has not been usurped already You probably need a short line that captures the sentiment of the proposition What if we could buy more stuff locally ... online? this is all important if you feel that a degree of separation from dunbar.org.uk might be a good idea. Survey You probably...
Later that afternoon email to mate
Creating a page with a bunch of links on facebook is very easy, but won't be transformative. The money will go one way, to Hackers Way in Silicon Valley. Even creating a page on an existing website, probably won't be transformative either. There needs to be some value added, a problem solved (for the purveyor and for the customer). There are 2 broad models that I can think of, that may meet your requirement (at least as far as I understand it) and allow people to start trading online: 1: consolidate all product onto a single website where each vendor has a space and can publicise all or some of their wares. The shop...