“Getting local business back in the game” is one of the primary goals of a program call Main and Me, so new that it is still in its beta stage.  (The iPhone app is not yet live, but is expected any day now.) The program encourages shoppers to use photo-sharing to discover new places and products and to wish-list their favorite items.  Once the app is available, you and your customers will be able to add items to your store’s site using the camera on your smart phone.

All you need to do now to join Main and Me is to log in, and then upload your first product photo using your computer. That will prompt that question of what store you wish to post it to, allowing you to create a store profile. It’s simple and free. Every time you add an additional products, you will be prompted to put it under your store’s name. You can invite customers to “follow” your store just as they would on Pinterest, and they can “like” or wish-list items that catch their fancy.

According to James Akers, who is the co-founder of the site with his wife Mary Pat, Main and Me is:

✦Like Pinterest, only 100% supportive of local (with no danger of your prices being undercut by–or having to share the channel with–malls, big box stores and Big Internet Retail).

✦Like Instagram meets Etsy: just snap, caption and check in a photo to instantly create a free storefront

✦A free online storefront for your city, town or neighborhood…and every local business in it.

✦Wish-listing and window-shopping for Main Street

✦How online shoppers discover (and buy) what’s for sale in the local, independent stores around them

The site is hoping that communities will build virtual shopping districts like the one shown in the illustration.  Although the instructions for doing so are fairly simple, it may be a little while before I have time to create on for Monroe Street.  Sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day. But I did get a few products put on an Orange Tree Imports page.

At the moment Main and Me is free, however an optional paid model is in the works that will offer the option of selling from the site.  Because of the wish-list option, Main and Me can serve as a self-generating gift registry. There may also be paid advertising available in the future.

Why not be one of the first stores to give Main and Me a try?  James Aker  invites you to give him a call (413-250-8800) or e-mail him ([email protected]) personally if you have problems and need more assistance. As he says, “we are really trying to spoil our first customers.”  Which is just what a new specialty shop should say when it opens!

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder