Taking on Amazon
While more shoppers look online for easy, convenient shopping, many don’t realize the effect is has on their communities.
“Online shopping is taking over the market,” said Mountain Brook resident Blake Patterson. “Amazon has 51 percent of it.”
Shoppers are drawn to the ease of online shopping, but with each purchase from the website, cities miss out on the sales tax that funds local programs and schools, Patterson said.
To fight this “Amazon effect” of online shopping, Patterson worked with Telegraph Creative to co-found OutKlick, an online community shopping hub that connects local merchants to shoppers through one search engine. And as of early April, Mountain Brook will be the first community in the country to have access to the shopping search engine.
“Mountain Brook is going to be the first digital mall community in the country,” Patterson said.
Looking at the stores in Mountain Brook and knowing the city’s second greatest source of income is sales tax, Patterson wants to use OutKlick as a way to “keep brick and mortar stores going” while remaining convenient for shoppers.
“People will be able to search a directory, which has a city-specific inventory, for items they are looking for,” said OutKlick partner Seth Griffin. “From there, they can purchase the items and shop the store online.”
“The whole point of the app is to keep foot traffic alive,” Patterson said.
By introducing the “digital mall” to the community, he said shoppers will learn more about what each store carries, be encouraged to visit the shops and continue spending locally. OutKlick helps stores put together an e-commerce presence and become part of the “community hub.” If there are additional services merchants are looking for, Telegraph Creative steps in, Griffin said.
While OutKlick is designed for small, product-focused shops, Patterson said they are also working with local industries, such as realtors or medical offices, to showcase their services and involvement in OutKlick.
“It’s a win-win situation for all,” Patterson said. “We want the merchants to win because we understand you have a rent you have to pay every single month … but it’s also a win for the consumer.”
Online shopping is an amenity for people nowadays, and for every dollar spent within city limits, Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Suzan Doidge said 64 cents stays in Mountain Brook. But if shoppers are purchasing goods on sites outside of Mountain Brook, the city loses that money.
Patterson noted they’re not “trying to reinvent the wheel.” By using existing technology such as Shopify, MailChimp and Google analytics, he’s hoping the platform will expose shoppers to a wider variety of stores.
Griffin said that more people should see the shops on the search engine by being part of OutKlick, too, since much of Google’s ranking is based on the number of “inbound links” a website has.
“Because every store we onboard will link to our community hub, that hub will benefit in Google rankings and should rank very high in organic search rankings, particularly local [searches],” Griffin said.
OutKlick is also planning to donate a portion of their proceeds to each city’s school system that they are operating in. The more merchants participate, the more schools will benefit.
As of March 14, more than 20 stores in Mountain Brook were in the process of signing up to be part of the “the first digitally connected commerce in the country.”
While Mountain Brook is the primary focus for the digital mall right now, in the coming months, Patterson and Griffin want to see OutKlick introduced in surrounding communities, too. Homewood and Vestavia Hills are next up on the list, and they are looking around the country for long-term expansion.
“I think, together, we can build something that does have the ability to counteract Amazon,” Patterson said. “Because, listen, Amazon is not going away.”
To learn more about the OutKlick program before its full release Mountain Brook in early April, visit outklick.com. OutKlick Mountain Brook will be available at outklickmb.com.