How it works
BuyGB gives you the tools to advertise your business and your products to members in your area. Although your products, events, menus, content, vouchers and profile will be available to the whole country, we will connect you first and foremost with people in your area. There's no point advertising nationally if you want people to come to your shop or pub, and you'd be amazed how many people near you don't know about you yet!
By using our platform of tools, and our additional distribution channels that will follow our launch (iPhone app, Social media apps etc) you can reach the people who really matter to your business, your local area, as well as the rest of the country! We will also use our platform to connect you to businesses, events, suppliers and other sources of business for you as the site grows - for example if you produce food we will be able to connect you with pubs and restaurants in your area who want your products if you want to reach them. We have some great things planned!
Trading through BuyGB.co.uk
All producers signing up to our 'Producer package' will be able to include their entire product range within the BuyGB.co.uk platform. If you're not a producer, or you don't want to sell online, a deluxe listing or a pub / restaurant listing will give you tools to reach your local area without the need for ecommerce. Perhaps you want to distribute promotional offers and vouchers to bring people to your shop or venue - we can do that for you too.
Commerce Engine
Our e-commerce tools are based on a high-end e-commerce system used by international companies, blue-chips and some of the most successful e-commerce companies on the web, and they will continue to be refined to suit the needs of our producers. Optional modules and functionality - including till integration, accounts / book-keeping software, and stock control - are planned for the future, and we will shortly be releasing an API allowing more technically advanced producers to use the BuyGB. co.uk platform to power their own websites.
Producer Tools
Each producer has a comprehensive set of tools allowing them to manage their own, fully featured, online shop. Producers can add product images, special offers and vouchers. Basic stock control can be achieved, allowing items to be removed from the site automatically if required. All orders are managed using our online order processing tools - payment is taken through the BuyGB. co.uk site on behalf of the producer, and the payment is immediately credited to the producer's own account (minus the agreed transaction fees) on despatch of the order. Our delivery mechanism allows automated pricing by weight - defaulting to Post Office standard rates, but easily setup to include local deliveries, or 3rd party couriers. We are planning to provide a nationwide delivery service with a national courier firm, and will be able to offer discounted delivery fees once this service is up and running.
Shop Fronts
The producer has two shop-fronts giving access to the full BuyGB.co.uk membership base. The first is the producer's own page, accessible directly via a customisable URL listing the producer's own products and providing detailed information about the producer's business. The second is the BuyGB.co.uk Marketplace, where members of BuyGB.co.uk can search for specific products by category, keyword and location. All products listed in the Marketplace are intelligently cross-promoted across all areas of the site, based on the preferences and activity of the members. For example, on a page about the various cuts of beef, products such as mustard or horseradish from producers local to the member may be displayed. Producers are also encouraged to add their own recipes and guides which will automatically be linked to their own shop.
Product Marketing
All of our producers' products are integrated across the entire web site, always focussing on connecting members of BuyGB. co.uk with their local producers and thus ensuring maximum exposure of producers and their produce to their local community. However, a key aspect of BuyGB.co.uk is that we not only market products within the BuyGB.co.uk web site itself, but we are also introducing producers to a number of other marketing channels via Social Networking (Facebook, Twitter) and mobile technology (iPhone, Google Android etc) promoting our producers and their products using location based services and other highly targeted methods of delivery, all at no extra cost to you.
