Localmart is a multi vendor ecommerce platform where vendors can offer locally produced products and services in their own store in the Localmart marketplace. While platforms such as Amazon, eBay or Etsy offer products from multiple vendors, the LocalMart marketplace is distinctive from other such marketplaces in dozens of important ways.

Membership only – Localmart is selective and not just another ecommerce platform trying to attract customers without regard for a larger vision.
Dual Roles – Every member is both a customer and a vendor, so members must already have, or else develop (or let us help you develop) some locally produced product or service that they can offer in their own store in the LocalMart marketplace.
Goals for community empowerment: By requiring members to be both customers and vendors, the goal is to create a circular economy in a localized area, resulting in more community cohesiveness, resilience and economic independence. In short, Localmart strives to:

• Encourage and assist members in developing products and services which are currently sourced from outside of the community.
• Transcend the narrow concept of “buy local”, and promote the concept “produce and buy local”, thereby creating a circular local economy.
• Lead the transition from Globalization to Localization.
• Strengthen community relationships.
• Create local jobs

Features:

• Proprietary payment system – allows members to quickly and easily pay for purchases without using debit or credit cards or other common payment systems. See LocalFunds
• Funds transfer feature that allows members to quickly and easily transfer funds to other members with no transaction fees. See ZipFunds
• Provision to advance, loan or give funds to another member, or to repay, with no transaction fees. See ZipFunds
• Provision for charitable giving of products or services to other members. See ZipFunds
• Overdraft protection if you overdraw your account. See ODraft
• Proprietary delivery service. See LocalShip
• A system to clean and recirculate packaging and plastic and glass containers back to their vendors for reuse. See: LocalCycle
• A program to let potential members view and test Localmart. See: LocalSeed
• A private, internal messaging platform that permits messaging and social networking among members. See: MemberMessage

Policies:

• Set vendor and product standards for sustainability and environmental responsibility.
• Discourage “more is better” consumerism. Choose vendors whose products and services cater to “needs” more than “wants”.
• Reject the use of sales inducing gimmicks such as points, rewards, cash back or loyalty programs.
• Prohibit psychological pricing (e.g. not $9.99 or $29.95 – it’s $10.00 or $30.00).
• Limited advertising, and only available to member/vendors. No advertising clutter on website.
• Tone down the greenwashing in product names or descriptions (“good for the earth/environment”, “green”, “envirno”, etc.) The goal is to create a level of trust that if a product or service is in the Localmart marketplace, then it has already been screened for these criteria.

Assistance offered or planned:

• Assist potential vendors in identifying and developing a product or service that can be offered. (Finding your “inner entrepreneur”)
• Assist potential vendors in finding a vendor group to join and work with, if they so desire.
• Assist new members in setting up their store in the Localmart marketplace.
• Set up a micro lending network which can offer small loans to vendors.
• Referral to resources to assist with accounting, legal or other business matters.
• Encouragement and assistance to attract the elderly, the lonely and the downtrodden in developing a useful product or service to be offered, which can both be a source of income plus a means to join and connect with a welcoming and supportive community.

Environmental policies and goals:

• Minimize transportation of products through increased local production and efficient local delivery or pickup services. See: LocalShip
• Minimize packaging waste and plastic pollution through use of durable containers and packaging, and transport of such containers and packaging back to the vendor for reuse. See: LocalCycle
• Discourage “more is better” consumerism. Choose vendors whose products and services cater to “needs” more than “wants”.
• Set vendor and product standards for sustainability and environmental responsibility.

Privacy:

• No data sale or sharing, so that your purchase or financial history is not sold, or captured by an outside database.
• Proprietary payment system (LocalFunds) keeps purchase and financial data private, without use of debit or credit cards or banks that might otherwise use and share your purchasing and financial data.

Feature Details:
LocalFunds:
This is the proprietary Localmart payment system that allows members to quickly and easily pay for purchases. It simplifies payments by eliminating the need for debit or credit cards or other common payment systems (with their gateways, processors, merchant accounts, reserves, fees and payment delays, not to mention privacy concerns.) With LocalFunds, payments transfer immediately and automatically between members after placing an order, but unlike other payment methods, there are no payment fees. (There are, however, transaction fees paid to LocalMart admin, as there are with other multi vendor platforms such as Amazon or eBay.)
With LocalFunds, as long as a member’s sales are at least equal to purchases, they can continue to transact without having to rely on supplementing their account with their outside funds.

ZipFunds:
This is a proprietary funds transfer feature that allows members to quickly and easily transfer funds to other members. It is useful for many situations:
-A vendor issues a refund to a customer.
-A vendor provides a service where the price is not known in advance and payment is made after completion.
-A member advances funds, makes a loan or provides a gift of LocalFunds to to another member.
With ZipFunds, there are no payment OR transaction fees and the funds are transferred immediately.

ODraft:
This feature allows a customer to overdraw their LocalFunds account by up to $20 with no fees or penalty. This works automatically when placing an order where the order total exceeds the customer account balance by $20 or less.

LocalShip:
This is the proprietary LocalMart delivery service. It utilizes the advantage of operating within a restricted geographical area by making “round robin” pickups and deliveries among customers and vendors.
For background, it may be difficult for a vendor to determine the shipping cost at the time of sale. In some cases, a vendor may be already making a trip where it is then convenient to deliver directly to the customer. In other cases, a customer may pick up the product from the vendor. For this reason, there is generally no shipping cost added to vendor invoices. If LocalShip is in fact used for delivery, then the driver is compensated in the same manner as that used for tipping an Uber or Lyft driver. An email message is sent to the customer when shipment has been made. If LocalShip was used, there is a provision to then “tip” the delivery service driver for the delivery service.

LocalCycle:
There is much talk and little action regarding the burgeoning, destructive proliferation of plastic waste in the environment. While placing recycle items in blue recycle containers may create the illusion that they will be recycled, some studies indicate that plastics are recycled at a rate as low as 9% and glass containers at a rate of 31%. (There is also an expenditure of energy for transportation and the recycling process.) LocalCycle is a system to clean and recirculate packaging and plastic and glass containers back to their vendors for reuse. The LocalShip service makes this convenient, as used packaging and containers can be picked up from customers and be delivered back to vendors in the course of the normal delivery service.

LocalSeed:
This is a program to let potential members view and test Localmart. It gives them access to an account that is seeded with $10 of LocalFunds which they can spend on Localmart.

MemberMessage:
This is a private, internal messaging platform that permits messaging and social networking among members.