Edinburgh Lockdown Economy has hit an important marker – they now have 500 business listings on their site.
This weekend the 500th business was added to the Edinburgh Lockdown Economy, making it the most comprehensive (and colourful) source of local shopping information for people in Edinburgh.
As Scotland enters another week of lockdown, the site offers a much-needed element of control, the choice to spend your money locally.
Instead of supermarkets and big online retailers, Edinburgh Lockdown Economy offers 500 opportunities – and counting – to support local businesses right on our doorsteps.
Co-founder Tom Harries is celebrating. He said: “You get an added feel-good factor about purchasing something when you know who’s behind the brand.
“And it also means you have a level of trust, knowing that the person you’re buying from cares about the goods or service. After all, their reputation is at stake.”
Another benefit in the increase in listings is more website traffic. For Edinburgh’s businesses, this means more consumers looking to purchase local products. As the site has grown, Tom has seen doors opening (figuratively) to the city’s food and drink retailers, health and wellbeing businesses, entertainment companies, small business services and much more.
He said: “I’ve been delighted to see so much willingness to collaborate. ‘Separate together’ couldn’t be more accurate; from users of our site submitting suggestions, to businesses joining forces to deal with deliveries or to create new products.
“Just look at Good Brothers, Romaine Calm and Root to Market, all of whom brought together their restaurants’ suppliers to create online grocery shops, providing support across the supply chain and flourishing for it.”
Of course the Edinburgh Lockdown Economy team know that providing quality listings is just as important as the quantity. For every business that’s added, the company’s website and social media channels are reviewed, so that the team can better understand what’s on offer.
However, even to the trained eye it can be difficult to find important information quickly. Whilst social media is great for keeping followers updated with of-the-moment changes, such as deliveries running late, posts are often quickly lost in the feed.
Instead, Tom recommends this to the businesses they list. He suggests: “It’s best to have a single source of truth for what you’re offering during lockdown – a short statement front and centre on your website. It’s really helpful for customers, especially if they’re searching for a particular service and are unfamiliar with your brand.”
Tom is hoping business owners heed his words, because with lockdown set to continue into the summer there’s still plenty of work to do on the Edinburgh Lockdown Economy.
He continued: “There are many more businesses that need our support. We can only do our best to help the local economy, those small business owners, if our site is the most useful and the most used.
“We urge everyone to explore Edinburgh Lockdown Economy for a service they need, or their favourite shop or restaurant. If it’s not listed and open during lockdown, please fill in our form.”
