Shop Independent And Support Your Community

SHOP LOCAL AND SUPPORT YOUR COMMUNITY 

Global corporations currently enjoy the lion’s share of the online retail market, with small to medium sized independent businesses paying hefty fees for the privilege of using their platforms.  

The UK Government have even introduced a new tax on multinational online retailers to help level the playing field with the high street.  
But many of these multinationals, such as Amazon and Etsy, have simply added extra costs on top of their already high fees. They are passing the costs on to their users – many of whom were made unemployed from their main job during the pandemic and are currently unable to find a new job, making their online business their only source of income. All these multinationals seem to care about is ensuring their profit margins are impacted as little as possible, especially by something as trivial as tax. 

Did you know that Amazon UK Services only paid £14.46m in corporation tax in 2019, despite sales of £13.7bn? And when asked to pay their fair share of the new digital services tax they simply passed this on to those desperately trying to make a living by using their biased platform. 

The last year has been extremely challenging, with local and independent sellers taking a huge hit in sales and income, whereas many larger online retailers have seen sales prosper.  

In response to the impact of the pandemic and the decline in traditional high street retail in recent years, we have developed CHOOSiE – a new and convenient way to get your products noticed and, most importantly, sold. 

Buyers wanting to make a specific purchase can search for the item in the app or, if seeking inspiration, can browse the various categories. On finding the product, buyers can find out more about the item and the seller, make a secure payment and either have the item delivered or collect it at their convenience depending on the sellers designated preferences. 

Unlike other shopping platforms that either deduct a hefty commission or charge to list products, the cost to sellers is only 6% on sales with no listing fees, so no financial outlay – meaning there really is more money in their pocket.  

As a comparison, Etsy charge a listing fee of 15p per listing until the item is sold or for four months, whichever is sooner, a transaction fee of 5% on the sale price and delivery costs, a payment fee of 4% plus 20p processing fee if using Etsy Payments, and if you make a sale through one of Etsy’s auto-enrolment offsite advertisements you will also have to fork out a massive 15% advertising fee! As you can see, these costs can soon mount up and eat into your profit margins. Not only that, but you’ll still have to price your products competitively in order to compete with millions of sellers on the platform. 


The high street retail sector is changing - and has been for some time. 

More people are shopping online, and less footfall is reaching physical stores on the high street. 
The recent Coronavirus pandemic has further exacerbated this problem for small, independent, local businesses. 
But people are also becoming openly supportive of their local, independent businesses and looking for more ways to help them by buying their products. 

With CHOOSiE, we aim to provide these existing, vocal supporters of local businesses a platform to aid them in buying products and services, and give small, independent businesses a platform to reach more customers. 

In addition, we are leveraging the massive pool of buyers that exist online and encouraging them to make their purchases through CHOOSiE, rather than the global corporations that currently enjoy the lion’s share of the market. By drawing just a small percentage of buyers from Amazon, Etsy, and other online platforms and encouraging them to buy through CHOOSiE, we will be helping small, local businesses survive and grow - helping their local economy thrive, which in turn will help the UK economy thrive. 

Rosie Reynolds, CHOOSiE founder, says: “This year has brought many challenges for our local high street. The convenience of online shopping means that local and independent shops are often forgotten about when making a purchase. CHOOSiE brings a new way for you to sell and engage with customers via an already existing platform with minimal cost.” 

“I’m so passionate about encouraging people to buy from independent businesses. Buying independent has such a positive effect on the local economy. Now it’s launched we are actively encouraging sellers to come on board to help make the online independent the online go-to for shopping locally.” 


Thank you for reading, we would love your support.

We are immensely proud of the business we have built over the last year, remaining true to our guiding principles throughout. We remain client-centric in all we do; ensuring we deliver an expert and exemplary service to support small businesses in the UK. 

At the very outset, we committed to building a platform to rejuvenate the high street, to provide an online platform for shops, sellers, makers and service providers to compete with the likes of Amazon for ease of shopping. 

Funds received will be used to further develop the technology behind CHOOSiE, as well as boosting sales and marketing to increase national presence. We want to get the CHOOSiE platform out there and in front of those that want to buy from independent stores, showing off all the fantastic products of our independent retailers in the process.