With the changes the Covid pandemic has brought to our high street, the mayor of Bridport is encouraging local shops and shoppers to get on-board with ShopAppy.

Councillor Ian Bark is calling on the community to ensure our local, independent businesses can stay in business by also supporting them on a platform that brings them all together.

Cllr Bark said: "The Covid pandemic has brought about a quiet revolution in our high street shops. Many of our local businesses now have their own online presence which has certainly made shopping easier during those long weeks and months of lockdown. It is now time to bring all of those individual online services together under one local platform - a local one stop online shop for Bridport.

"Today, the Bridport business sector is on the cusp of making that happen with the launch of ShopAppy Bridport, a website that brings all the advantages of shopping locally to support the local economy, together on a single, online platform."

ShopAppy works by enabling local, independent shops and businesses to show information, products and services they have for sale in one place.

It brings what the town has to offer together into categories, making it easy to search for items or browse what's available in a certain shop.

You can choose click and collect, delivery or pick up all your shopping from one shop. You can also browse the app and go in to town and buy it.

Anything spent online using ShopAppy, except bank processing charges, goes to the local businesses.

"So, it works because together we can help our local independent shops stay in our town. It is hard for them in a world of online giants and supermarkets.

"I am sure, like me, you would prefer a world and a future where local shops, local businesses and local communities support each other. ShopAppy has the potential to do just that.

"The first few local businesses have started to upload their wares. If ShopAppy is to successfully deliver a local online shopping experience then it will clearly need to grow, and in order to grow it will need the people of Bridport to use it.

"If the people of Bridport use it, the number of local businesses using it will increase. If the number of local businesses using it increases then the range of products and services available at the click of a mouse will increase. And if all this happens, the number of people using it will increase and so the cycle of growth continues.

"If our high street is to survive against online giants like Amazon it has to adapt and ShopAppy Bridport offers that potential. The more we use it the more it will grow and as a result we will use it more."

Find ShopAppy Bridport here.

To read the mayor's blog in full, visit Bridport-tc.gov.uk

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