The Ivy House, a gift shop in Texas, uses Shop Local to offer an online store, get product data from its brands, and place wholesale orders more quickly.
We Make Running A Retail Business Easier
The easiest software suite to run and grow your online business.
Shop Local offers retailers a variety of key software services to sell more and save time. Using Shop Local, retailers run their e-commerce business, grow their wedding and gift registry business, and instantly stock their website with products. Customers spend more money, registrants are happier, and stores avoid pricing errors.
Start with the free plan today. You can set up an online store in minutes with no technical knowledge.
Highlights
- Used by more than 1,236 of America's best indie retail shops.
- Businesses have sold more than $145,870,629 via Shop Local.
- 99.3% of retailers retain the service each month.
- Includes award-winning, best-in-class gift registry software. We've powered 70,000+ registries.
- Businesses can open a free account.
Contents
How Does Shop Local Work For Retailers?
1
We Give Your
Business
A Free Account
yourstorename.myshoplocal.com
View Live Example:
babcockgifts.myshoplocal.com
If you wish, you can use your own domain (e.g. yourname.com).
2
Add Your Brands
You can add any brands to your account that you wish. To help you get started, Shop Local offers you a directory of 3,187 brands from which to pick.
3
Have Your Brands Do the Work For You
You can send sync requests to brands that share products via Shop Local's Product Syncing service. Your account can be pre-populated with up to 63,693 products from 110 participating brands.
View Live Example:
Babcock's Juliska Home Page
4
Receive Orders
Your customers can checkout via your Shop Local Store. You'll receive an email with the customer's contact and order information. If you have real-time credit card processing set up with Shop Local, your Shop Local Store will ask the customer for their credit card information during checkout.
5
Grow Your Gift Registry Business
You can use Shop Local's award-winning gift registry software to offer an online registry service to your customers. Family and friends can visit registries on your Shop Local Store and make purchases from the lists. If you have a separate, third-party website, you can add a "Gift Registry” link that leads to your Shop Local Registry home page.
View Live Example:
Babcock's Gift Registry Home Page
6
Place Wholesale Orders Easily
When you need to place a wholesale order, you can use your Shop Local Store. Shop Local Wholesale reduces the number of steps required to place an order by 50%.
Shop Local Offers You These Services
Choose all of the services below or pick them piecemeal:
Learn more
Learn more
Learn more
Gift Registry Service
- More registrants will register with your business.
- Registrants will add more items to their registries.
- Your registry sales will increase.
- You'll save time and money in your management of registries.
Syncing
How Do You Add Products To Your Website?
When adding products, most retailers receive an Excel file and images. What if there was a way to sell these products online without those steps? There is: Syncing let you bypass Dropbox and Excel. You can use Product Syncing to save time and cut costs.
Please note: a retailer must be an authorized dealer to sync products
What Problem Is Shop Local Solving for Retailers?
Jason Solarek, Bridge CEO, with the Shop Local 'ethos'
Because of these expenses and obstacles, their websites often don't survive for more than a few years. They may even give up completely, have no website, and just have a non-selling, informational page on Facebook. They won't be able to help their customers make purchases online, view past orders, and become a digital, omni-channel business. They are stuck in an analog world where they can only sell to customers in their neighborhood, a neighborhood filled with customers who increasingly don't want to shop in store and instead prefer digital.
This sets the store owner up for failure because it's not where its customers want to shop. The small store owner and its employees who may take over the business are stuck in a cycle of 'digital poverty' and disadvantage. What if there was a way to fix this poverty, help level the playing field, and nurture indie businesses online?
Shop Local is this solution.
1,236 retailers use Shop Local's Online Store, including:
- 764 Gift shops
- 567 Home goods stores
- 113 Jewelry stores
- 87 Tableware stores
- 57 Interior design studios
- 57 Kitchen stores
- 57 Women's clothing stores
- 50 Furniture stores
Featured Retail Members
1,236 Retail Members & Growing
99.3% of Stores Can't be Wrong
Each month, an average of 99.3% of retailers renew their Shop Local Store service. A high renewal rate demonstrates that retailers are happy with Shop Local's software and customer service. This high customer loyalty suggests that Shop Local is providing great value for members.
Four Reasons Why 1,236 Merchants Choose Shop Local
1
We get customers to spend
more money with your store.
Stores that use Shop Local sell 18% more. Shop Local gives you a variety of tools to bring in more traffic and get visitors to spend more. Read the case study on 18%.
2
We make it easy.
You can set up an online store in minutes. With no technical knowledge, you can offer a powerful, full-featured website to customers. We help you accomplish in hours what other services require weeks to do.
3
We're retail experts.
We specialize in retail stores like yours. We understand your business. We bring you 20 years of experience and have overseen $140m+ in online sales for indie stores. Read the history of Shop Local and the team that created it.
4
We make the price right.
We offer plans and pricing designed for indie businesses. There is no set up fee. Enjoy our free plan. View retailer pricing.
Retailers that choose Shop Local Store often have a few traits in common, including:
- A website that needs more attention and resources than an indie business can afford.
- A desire to grow its online product offering.
- A limited budget for website development, operations, or maintenance.
- Limited technical know-how.
Thankfully, Shop Local can rectify these issues quickly. Most other online platforms require too much time and money. Shop Local is designed to help indie retailers bypass these barriers.
Add Shop Local To Your Online Business
What is your current website situation?
| A. | B. | C. | |
| Situation: | “I have no official business website. I only have a Facebook page or other social media account for my business.” | “I have an official business website; it's only an informational site.” | “I have an official business website; it has e-commerce functionality.” |
| Assessment: | Since you have no official website, you can use Shop Local as your business's official website. On your Facebook, Instagram, and other social media accounts, you can add your Shop Local website as your official website (e.g. yourstorename.myshoplocal.com). | You can edit your existing website and add links from it to your Shop Local Store. For example, you can add a link that says "Gift Registry" that leads to your Shop Local's Gift Registry page. You can also add a link that says "Shop Full Juliska Catalog" that leads to your Shop Local's Juliska page. |
How you use Shop Local depends on if you wish to use Shop Local's gift registry service. If you wish to use Shop Local's gift registry service,
you can add a link on your existing site saying "Gift Registry" that leads to your Gift Registry home page.
When you have your own e-commerce store, you may wish to import Shop Local's product data into your e-commerce database. |
Ivy House |
Babcock Gifts |
Sasha Nicholas |
|
| Choice: | Shop Local Handles It All for You | Hybrid | Advanced Hybrid |
| Overview: | You use Shop Local Store as your primary website. You can customize the design and content. You can choose to sync with products. In addition to synced products, you can add and sell any products that you wish. | You keep your existing website and add links leading to your Shop Local Store. For example, you may add a "Gift Registry" link on your site that leads to your Shop Local Gift Registry page. | You may use your existing website and import synced data into it. You may use Shop Local's Registry service. |
| Services Used: | Shop Local Store + Shop Local Registry + Shop Local Product Syncing | Your 3rd-Party Website + Shop Local Store + Shop Local Registry + Shop Local Product Syncing | Varies |
| Examples: |
Ivy House P.S. The Letter Persnickety Pieces Of Eight |
B.C. Clark Babcock Gifts Schiffman's (3 locations) |
Hudson-Poole Jewelers Sasha Nicholas |
| Time to Setup: | Instant |
20 minutes or less
» Support page: Add a link from your website to your Shop Local Store |
Varies
» Support page: Export your Synced Products |
| Setup Cost: | Free | Free or low-cost depending on the service used to administer your site. | Fee that your web person will charge. |
| Shop Local Software Updates: | Free & instant | Free & instant | Only applicable if using Shop Local Registry. |
| Ideal for: |
Business wanting a new website.
Business with no existing website. |
Business with an existing website
(such as Squarespace, Weebly, Shopify, etc.). |
Business with an advanced e-commerce website. |
| Choice A | |
|---|---|
|
Situation: “I have no official business website. I only have a Facebook page or other social media account for my business.” |
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Assessment: Since you have no official website, you can use Shop Local as your business's official website. On Facebook, Instagram, and other social media accounts, you can add your Shop Local website as your official website (e.g. yourstorename.myshoplocal.com). |
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|
| Shop Local Handles It All for You | |
|
Overview: You use Shop Local Store as your primary website. You can customize the design and content in your Shop Local Store and gift registry. You can choose to sync with products. In addition to synced products, you can add any products that you wish to your Shop Local Store. |
|
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Services Used: Shop Local Store + Shop Local Registry + Shop Local Product Syncing |
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Example Websites: Ivy House P.S. The Letter Persnickety Pieces Of Eight |
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Time to Setup: Instant Setup |
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Setup Cost: No Setup Cost |
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Shop Local Software Updates:
Free & Instant Software Updates |
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|
Ideal for: Business wanting a new website. Business with no existing website. |
|
| Choice B | |
|---|---|
|
Situation: “I have an official business website; it's only an informational site.” |
|
|
Assessment: You can edit your existing website and add links from it to your Shop Local Store. For example, you can add a link that says, "Gift Registry" that leads to your Shop Local's Gift Registry page. You can also add a link that says "Shop Full Juliska Catalog" that leads to your Shop Local's Juliska page. |
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| Hybrid | |
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Overview: You keep your existing website and add links leading to your Shop Local Store. For example, you may add a "Gift Registry" link on your site that leads to your Shop Local Gift Registry page. |
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Services Used: Your 3rd-Party Website + Shop Local Store + Shop Local Registry + Shop Local Product Syncing |
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Example Websites: B.C. Clark Babcock Gifts Schiffman's (3 locations) |
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Time to Setup: 20 minutes or less » View support page |
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Setup Cost: Free or low-cost setup depending on the service used to administer your site |
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Shop Local Software Updates:
Free & Instant Software Updates |
|
|
Ideal for: Business with an existing informational website (such as Squarespace, Weebly, etc.). |
|
| Choice C | |
|---|---|
|
Situation: “I have an official business website; it has e-commerce functionality.” |
|
|
Assessment: How you use Shop Local depends on if you wish to use Shop Local's gift registry service. If you wish to use Shop Local's gift registry service, you can add a link on your existing site saying "Gift Registry" that leads to your Shop Local's Gift Registry home page. When you have your own e-commerce store, you may wish to import Shop Local's product data into your e-commerce database. |
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| Use Your Own Site | |
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Overview: You may use your existing website and import Smart Product data into it. You may use Shop Local's Registry service. |
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Services Used: Varies |
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Example Websites: Hudson-Poole Jewelers Sasha Nicholas |
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Time to Setup: Varies » View support page |
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Setup Cost: Fee that your web person will charge. |
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Shop Local Software Updates:
Only applicable if using Shop Local Registry. |
|
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Ideal for: Business with an advanced e-commerce website. |
|
Support, SEO, and Wholesale Ordering
Support
Learn more
Service
Retailer Qualifications
Are there requirements a retailer must meet to join and use Shop Local Store?
Yes, a business must have a federal tax ID (TIN) and one or more dedicated, physical storefronts that consumers can access (e.g. not a P.O. box or postal/mail center).
Babcock Bridal
Babcock Gifts
Memphis, TN
Live Wth It by Lora Hobbs
Live With It by Lora Hobbs
Peckville, PA
Rebecca Culver
Elizabeth Clair's
Tupelo, MS
Brooke Hollingsworth
Persnickety
Madison, MS
Lois MacRitchie
The Boutique Charleston
Charleston, SC
Mary-Baldwin Albriton
Oxford Floral Co.
Oxford, MS
Howard Hurst
Tipton Hurst
Little Rock, AR
Zundels Jewelry
Zundel's
Mobile, AL
Hayley Suthers
The Cottage Shop
Savannah, GA
Kristin Sullivan
Plum Southern
LaGrange, GA
Debbie Dickerson
Cole and Company
Tyler, TX
Social Memphis
Social Memphis
Memphis, TN