Consumers Are Favoring Online Shopping This Holiday Season
RETAIL NEWS
The coronavirus pandemic may suppress our desire to get out into crowded stores, but it has been, and will continue to be, a boon for online shopping.
To take advantage of the current sentiment, the Nanuet Chamber of Commerce, Rockland Business Women’s Network, and other county business groups have created the Rockland County Online Holiday Shopping Expo, an online shopping destination at www.rocklandshopping.com. The “event,” designed to support local retail businesses, services, restaurants, and nonprofits, will run from Dec. 5th to the 9th.
“We want to encourage people to shop local!”, said Risa Hoag, president of RBWN and vice president of the Nanuet Chamber of Commerce.
The expo fee is $50 for RBWN members (the host organization), $75 for nonprofits, $100 for members of any other Chamber of Commerce or the RBA. The cost is $150 for a business that is not a member of any organization.
Service businesses may offer services individually or as a special “show package” and nonprofits can offer “donations” for sale or package them up, for example, “Feed a senior for a week” and assign it a dollar value for the donation. “We also encourage everyone to consider offering show deals and discounts to encourage online shopping such as 10% off when you mention the show, etc.”
Businesses can sell up to 21 items.
You can list quantities of each in the description so that you actually have more items online ultimately. (For example: This item is available in multiple colors and we have 10 in stock.)
The sales process doesn’t actually happen on the site. All sales will go directly through you, and you will handle all shipping or pick up arrangements so your company description should include how people can order, i.e. over the phone, via email, etc.
You should prepare photos of your items for sale and have them ready to upload as jpgs with descriptions after you are approved. Service businesses could put up pictures of their logos or headshots with different descriptions for different service offerings. Nonprofits can do something similar or get creative with fun photos.
Chambers and the RBWN will be promoting the holiday show, as will the County Executive office and the Office for Economic Development.
You will have access to a graphic to promote the Expo on your own social platforms and through emails to your customers. This is a great way to not only gain visibility for your Rockland business no matter where it is located, but also to gain new customers and sales.
Businesses and nonprofits that would like to participate should visit www.rocklandshopping.com and fill out the form and read the FAQs.
Admission is free for shoppers during a five-day period, 24/7. They will be able to select specific booths to visit or use the robust search capabilities, browsing by category, search term, or price range.
“We are excited to bring this unique shopping platform to businesses across Rockland for the first time. It is a wonderful opportunity for Rocklanders to shop local this holiday and find businesses that they may never have heard of before. What better way to spend your holiday dollars than by buying from a local business owner at this challenging time,” states Risa Hoag, President of the Rockland Business Women’s Network. “We are excited to have not only the support of the Joint Chamber Alliance and the RBA, but County Executive Ed Day and Economic Development Director Jeremy Schulman. We are looking forward to making this a win/win for businesses and consumers across Rockland.”
More information can be found at www.rbwn.org.