We started this platform to solve a problem for indie stores and their brands.

In 2007, we were managing websites for retail stores and brands. Each week, we would add products to clients' websites. This process was complicated, took a lot of time, and was costly to clients. (We also found it boring.)

One weekend, I was thinking about this problem while at Moran's pub in New York City. I drew the process on a napkin.

• I realized that many of my clients were asking me to add products from the same brands to their websites.
• I noticed that Karen, who owned a retail shop in New York, paid me to add the same products to her website as Sallie, who owned a store in Missouri.
• I wondered: What if I could load a product once and have it appear on all the applicable websites?

No software or service existed to do what I had in mind. I was familiar with Excel and file-sharing services. They weren't designed to share products between retail websites and their brands.

I sensed an opportunity. I sketched on a bar napkin a new process:

• The retailers could team up with a brand and all receive the same product data.
• I could ask the brand to input and maintain this data.
• These products could appear on the retailer's respective website.
• This 'bridging' of data would drastically simplify the process, reduce the labor, and speed products to retailers' websites.

I called my tech friend to get his input. He said my plan wouldn't work. I decided to push ahead. The next day, we started putting my plan in place. Within a few months, we had two stores and eight brands in a beta trial.

Today, we help 1,501 retailers share 74,939 products from 114 partner brands. We help retailers and brands sell tens of millions of dollars in products from 3,489 brands. Our software has powered 80,000+ gift registries for indie shops.

At the heart of our company is that sketch on the napkin.

Shopping Local
We embraced the shop local movement and named our shopping platform after it. We believe in local businesses and their benefits to the community. (We were early adopters of community projects like The High Line park and OHNY.)

My team and I are building an online shopping experience where local stores have great software and massive selection like the big, online players. Our goal is to help America's best indie stores offer a great shopping experience with the best items, great prices, and quick delivery.

You're invited to join us.

P.S. ~ You're invited to learn more about my motivation for Shop Local here.

Thank you.

Shop local,