ShopBox is an innovative ordering, payment and delivery solution which has been designed to help independent retailers compete with the large online retailers who continue to threaten the future of the High Street. It will create an easy way for independent retailers to get their products online (whether they have an existing website or not), accept online payments (rather than cash on delivery), and allow them to offer an innovative delivery (and/or collection) service for their customers.
Orders can be prioritised for key workers and vulnerable people during times of national crisis (such as during Covid-19) or for elderly or infirm customers during normal working conditions. This will ensure that specific groups will receive their essential supplies on time and build loyalty with the shop.
The "collaborative delivery" option will allow customers to receive orders from several shops through just the one delivery. This innovation will allow retailers to collaborate and share spare delivery capacity with one another and will help to reduce delivery costs for both the retailer and their customers. A further benefit of this collaborative delivery option is that it will reduce the number of journeys being made and the environmental impact of deliveries.
Whilst ShopBox has been born out of the chaos and uncertainty of Covid-19, its objective is to continue long after the High Street returns to normal. For years the High Street has been under pressure from larger online retailers and now ShopBox will help independent retailers to increase revenues whilst deepening their relationships with the community around them.
ShopBox aims to help independent retailers to bring the local high street to their customers (during a national lockdown or not) and will have the unique benefit of free marketing support and advice for Shop Owners with regular content, webinars and training sessions along with the ability to share ideas and collaborate within a private Facebook group to see what's working/not working in different areas of the country.
ShopBox has not been designed to keep customers away from the town centres, rather it has been designed to build loyalty and allow customers to shop local from the comfort of their home. Customers can maintain contact with their favourite independent retailers during times when they can't get to the shops (lockdown, health or busy lives) and will include incentives to visit shops when they have time or are allowed to do so.