© Mymarket.brussels An online platform connects local businesses with consumers and offers them the opportunity to have their goods delivered by bike, thus supporting a local and sustainable economy.
SUPPORTING LOCAL RETAILERS
Mymarket.brussels aims to connect or reconnect local businesses with customers in the Brussels area. During the first lockdown, non-essential retailers had to close for an undetermined period of time. This reinforced the tendency of customers to buy online, mainly via international platforms. Mymarket.brussels is the result of a merger between three pilot projects launched in support of local retailers, with the goal of co-creating an alternative to e-commerce giants in cooperation with citizens and local businesses in the City of Brussels.
AN E-COMMERCE PLATFORM
These initiatives were scaled up and supplemented by three services available to independent retailers, producers and artists: 1. Personal coaching from experts for those who wish to boost their visibility online; 2. Free access to the shared marketplace designed for local shops, either to sell their products online or to showcase a selection of products, with more than 230 shops already on the platform; 3. Access to a bike delivery service in Brussels, including a pick-up at their shops three times a week. The aim is not only to promote local consumption, but also to promote connectivity among economic actors within the region.
ONLINE PURCHASES DELIVERED BY BIKE
The pandemic has led many of us to realise how scarcity of natural resources and growing ecological challenges will force us to change the ways we consume. More and more citizens are choosing to rethink their purchases by integrating circular economy principles, and mymarket.brussels supports this process on a local scale. Furthermore, while in Brussels 90% of merchandise is transported by motorised vehicles, this initiative offers small businesses the opportunity to choose bike delivery using the “urbike” cooperative. So far, more than 400 packages have already been delivered, reducing emissions and noise pollution.
