Banbury BID partnership with online platform - ShopAppy - helps town centre businesses trade during lockdown

A partnership between the Banbury Business Improvement District (BID) and ShopAppy.com has helped local town centre businesses continue trading during the lockdown.
By Matt Elofson
Published 18th Jun 2020, 12:47 BST
Updated 18th Jun 2020, 13:04 BST
Banbury BIDBanbury BID
Banbury BID

Banbury BID engaged with ShopAppy, an online digital platform, to help town centre businesses to continue trading during the lockdown and beyond.

ShopAppy is an online browsing tool with a built-in ‘click and collect’ service. However, due to the coronavirus, Banbury BID coordinated a delivery service to provide a lifeline for people in Banbury affected by the outbreak.

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Similar to online supermarket shopping, customers can then pick which products they would like to buy, add to their basket and checkout. The products will then be delivered at a scheduled time. The Carriage Company taxi service helped with the partnership during the lockdown.

Jo Holland, the manager at Banbury BID, said: "The primary focus was getting a way for some of our businesses to continue trading.

"It normally takes around 12 weeks for a town to get a ShopAppy up and running and we did it in a couple of weeks.

"I just think it's been phenominal. It's given businesses the oportunity trade during the lockdown."

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More than two dozen local businesses have taken part in the partnership to enable people to still buy local while shopping online.

One of the businesses the parnership helped is The Artery, an art shop, who is now selling a range of art products as well as successfully running live art classes online.

The Banbury Guardian published an article about The Artery last month on how well their online business had taken off. You can read the story on how The Artery, found itself with a worldwide audience since the lockdown began here: https://bit.ly/3fChEoUOfficials with Banbury BID encourage people to continue to check out the Banbury ShopAppy scheme as online shopping will still continue.

To see what's available use the following web link to see Banbury's online marketplace: https://shopappy.com/banbury/Jo Holland added: "It's a positive story in what has been a horrific time for the town. The community could still shop local even though they couldn't leave the house."

Related topics:Banbury