Our Story
The inspiration for Shopitnear came during the first nationwide lockdown in 2020. When the supermarkets would run out of staples such as flour, local independent shops still had supplies but limited ways of connecting with customers.
My husband and I were chatting about this and we thought there should be one easy website where customers can find and shop from Small Businesses in their local area and across the UK. We decided to bring this to life and in 2021, we launched Shopitnear.
Our Aims
We have two main aims which are equally important:
1. To give customers one convenient marketplace website where they can shop all sorts of things from many different UK Small Businesses in one place.
We want to make it easier than ever for customers to support Small Businesses, to save them time when browsing indepdendent retailers and give them more choice and convenience.
2. To provide Small Business owners with a low-cost selling platform as well as great support.
We know every penny counts for Small Businesses so we are committed to keeping Shopitnear as cost-effective as possible and we pride ourselves on the service we offer as a family run alternative to the dominant global marketplaces.
Our Vision
To grow Shopitnear to the point where customers can find almost anything they are looking for from a UK Small Business.
We believe that when Shopping Small is that easy, customers will support Small Businesses more than ever, helping UK Small Businesses to thrive to the benefit of everyone across the country.
How Does It Work?
Businesses are able to create their own personalised shopfronts on the Shopitnear website and list their products.
Customers can shop from any and all shopfronts, adding any product to their basket, confident that whatever they buy is coming to them from an independent business that needs their support. They can use the location filters on our site to shop from businesses local to them if they choose.
While Shopitnear is a start-up, it is expanding quickly and already operates UK wide. We welcome established businesses and start-ups: if you are a Small Business owner, click here to find more information about joining Shopitnear.
