A few months ago we were shocked with the news about the death of a woman cyclist who was run over by a vehicle driven by a driverless car in Tempe, Arizona. Without a doubt we consider this case an example to be analyzed.
High-end technology has allowed for important social achievements for humanity. From the smallest, but no less important, contributions the development of technology in the field of commerce has revolutionized our consumption. Today with a single click we can have access to products from the other side of the world, something that was unconceivable in the past. The interesting thing is that this same click allows us to have access to other basic products that we recently bought from local stores, from our neighbors.
What’s hidden behind the comfort of a click is a huge matter. It means to put aside the construction of strong communities and lets us believe that we have lots more things to buy when in fact the offer is limited to what companies want us to buy putting special sales and unbelievable prices that will make grave implications to producers that have to sale their products at low prices.
In another article, Diapers, Amazon and your local economy, environmental educator Charles Swanson made us question the implications of buying arugula at a reduced price online. Distributors go to impossible lengths to offer the best price, but in the end the one paying utility is the producer.
What can we do?
In the face of this situation, what can we do? First of all, be aware of our type of consumption. Is it really necessary to order everything online? Think about it.
It’s not a matter of fashion, local commerce has always existed and adds great value to our local and national economy. Entrepreneurship is part of our national culture, it’s what’s made our economy prosper.
According to a research by American Express OPEN Small Business Saturday Consumer Pulse Study, 93% of Americans believe it’s important to support small businesses that contribute to a community’s economy. This same study refers to the fact that 73% of survey respondents consciously buy in local businesses to prevent them from closing.
Why shop in local businesses?
Local businesses give identity to a community, they build strong relations based on reliability and commitment within networks.
They break with homogeneity. Local commerce comes from the fact that although there’s competition, their product is unique and has value to add to the community. Their products and services are designed to benefit others.
Also, the money generated from local commerce stays within the community and in turn it generates employment for people of the same place whose salary is often higher than in the big chains.
An important aspect is sustainability. A product that comes from another part of the world and goes through an convoluted logistic network will generate environmental impacts unlike a product distributed locally.
Local commerce doesn’t set prices so everybody can have equal sales, thus eliminating unfair competition, local commerce buys and sells at a fair price.
Come In, We’re Local
At Sun Sprout we are proud of being a part of the Tucson and Phoenix local commerce network, we are a family business created to offer a useful and environmentally positive service.
We are interested in our community. We are an active part of it and throughout these five years of service we have made great friendships and important allies to strengthen our business.
At Sun Sprout we are a part of the Local First Arizona business network, a citizen initiative that helps create stronger bonds between local businesses which allows us to consolidate the economy of our region. Thanks to Local First Arizona we know that when you make a 100 dollar purchase at a local store at least 43 of those dollars will stay local whereas if you make a purchase at a big chain or nonlocal establishment only 13 dollars will remain circulating inside our economy.
We invite you to learn more about local businesses in your community and take a look at this video Local First Arizona has to offer.
Thanks for being part of our Sun Sprout family.