www.eastofbath.com - East of Bath
Posted 02/05/2020 in Local Experiences

Is It Too Easy to Forget Local Shops?


Is It Too Easy to Forget Local Shops?

Setting up East of Bath has been a very positive experience for me during the lockdown.  I have “met” many people who have told me about their club or business that I would never have known.  I feel more committed to helping local companies than I did just five weeks ago when I set up the site.

Despite this, I had an experience this week that made me realise just how programmed we have become.

I needed a few sports items in the next couple of weeks so, I got my phone out and opened the Amazon App.   It was my wife who suggested we should try John Moore Sports in Bath as she had seen on an email that they were still delivering even though the shop was not open.

So we both went online and found the items we needed from their easy to navigate online store.  We added the items to our shopping bag (not a cart, a bag!) and paid with Paypal (so I didn’t even need to go and find my wallet and type a load of numbers in at checkout).  It could not have been easier.  Three items placed in the bag and checked out in 15 mins.  Just in time to go to work at 9 am.

What happened next really surprised me.  It shouldn’t have, but it did!

At 4 pm, the doorbell rang, and there were three items in a simple paper shopping bag.  Just like I had been to the shop myself.  No big cardboard box, no excess packaging, just exactly what I ordered delivered on the same day I ordered it.

A local win for everyone!  The same price, delivered same day, less packaging, less fuel to get it to me, local economy benefitted.  

Why am I so programmed to pick up the Amazon App when I need to buy something…

It just goes to show the importance of communicating with your customers (and potential customers) at this time.  If John Moore Sports had not sent the email to my wife and she had not lodged the fact that they were delivering in the back of her mind, we will have given the business to Amazon without a second thought.

Keep in touch with the local community at this challenging time by adding your company profile on eastofbath.com and using the announcement features to let your customers know how you can serve them during this period of change.

(Thank You:  The main image for this article has been supplied free of charge from www.colourbox.com as part of their initiative to support local organisations helping companies and people through COVID 19)