Several Twickenham businesses are hoping to boost sales by joining a new home delivery scheme designed to rival global sites such as Amazon.
With Amazon accused by some of exploiting retailers who use their site and underpaying workers, ‘TwickTraders’ has been set up to try and encourage more people to shop locally.
Eel Pie Records co-manager Kevin Jones is one of those involved with the project’s formation, and he believes many will embrace TwickTraders’ aims.
He said: “A lot of us are appalled by the behaviour of some of the big online retailers like Amazon. Their business model drives money away from communities like ours.
“Many customers would really welcome a more ethical, local alternative that’s as easy to use as Amazon. That’s what we’re trying to create with TwickTraders.
“The ambition is to build a community of local independent retailers that offer their products for sale on a one-stop-shop platform that mirrors Amazon.”
The current plan is for items to be delivered by bike, with deliveries limited to households within a short distance of Twickenham.
He said: “It’s a local platform and intended to stay that way. We have no plans to expand beyond a two or three mile radius of the retailer.
“But within that we do plan to offer delivery by electric cargo bike and to do so as quickly and conveniently- maybe more so than Amazon Prime.”
The project has been backed by local business improvement district ‘Discover Twickenham’ though Jones stressed that more work is needed to continue growing the scheme.
He said: “The site is in a fledgling state at present. We are refining it and adding more traders. The resources that Discover Twickenham has to invest in TwickTraders in this pilot phase are limited.
“If the concept proves to be appealing to Twickenham residents, we plan to invest and develop a scaled up model.”
More information about TwickTraders can be found on their site.
