NEW YORK, Sep 20, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- --For consumers, a one-stop destination to buy from and interact with those small businesses serving as taste-makers for their local communities
Today marks the much-awaited re-launch of Shustir.com for its 20,000-plus small business members nationwide and the millions of consumers who want to buy local.
Shustir.com, a thriving online marketplace, enables small business owners to sell their goods and services while interacting meaningfully with consumers and one another.
The re-launch will introduce a streamlined site targeting consumers wanting to find and buy from those small businesses who serve as tastemakers for their local communities.
Consumers can now easily find products and services offered by small businesses nationwide in over 25 industry categories. With the multitude of businesses on Shustir, consumers can do anything from engaging an aspiring web design firm to ordering a jar of mango chutney from a local delicatessen shop. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Shustir touts a stronghold of small businesses in the Tri-state area.
Shustir is the brainchild of Shu Kim and Khanh Pham, who, while rethinking their careers in corporate America, spotted a nascent trend: consumers choosing to purchase from small businesses, keeping money in local communities, and reaping the rewards of finer products and services.
"With Shustir.com, we're in essence knitting together many local efforts to support small businesses into a thriving national movement. It is a marketplace that lets you discover and vote with your dollars to independent merchants around the block, across town, or on the opposite coast," said Kim.
Studies have shown that each dollar spent at local independent businesses, on average, generates at least three times more direct local economic benefit than dollars spent at chain stores, according to the American Independent Business Alliance.
In a world of increasingly impersonal transactions, Shustir represents a movement towards "social commerce," re-inserting the "relationship" factor into the online shopping experience. It is no wonder why Shustir's corporate mantra is "It matters where you spend."
For Small Businesses, fortifying what works and offering more
Shustir.com will continue to give budget-conscientious, time-strapped small business owners the space and tools to build an elegant virtual storefront and an optimized platform so consumers can find them.
"We knew we'd struck a chord when thousands of businesses volunteered to set up storefronts right away, upon learning about our concept," said Pham. "What we thought would be the toughest part of building Shustir.com turned out to be one of the simplest. That was proof of concept for us--evidence of how small businesses have been yearning for better web presence and marketing power."
Online retail sales in the U.S. is expected to grow to $250 billion by 2014, representing a 10 percent compound annual growth rate, according to Forrester Research, while 44% of small businesses still do not have a website.
However, popular group-buying sites like Groupon and LivingSocial have been poor ambassadors for small businesses, taking as much as half of proceeds in commissions even though sales are heavily dependent on small businesses offering enticing deals.
Enter Shustir where small businesses can post their own daily deals via the platform's virtual storefront. There is no cost to design, host, maintain or market a Shustir.com storefront. Simply join the site, and follow four easy steps. In an hour or less, your business has an optimized web presence; more easily located through not only the Shustir.com Marketplace, but through Google and other major search engines. Members can log on anytime to add or edit content and photos, respond to consumer's comments or questions, update their blog.
E-commerce functionality will be free for up to six products or services. For as little as $25 per month, members can upgrade to SuperSeller accounts and post an unlimited number of products and services, which get prioritized in search results on Shustir's Marketplace.
With the re-launch, Shustir will also offer a free iPhone application; letting members easily upload products onto their storefronts and share them on major social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr.
For more information about setting up a virtual storefront or advertising on Shustir.com, please visit www.shustir.com or email contact@shustir.com
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SOURCE: Shustir.com
Shustir.com Khanh Pham, 917-370-3149 khanh@shustir.com
Copyright Business Wire 2011
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