SHOPPERS could soon be able to check online to find out which retailers have the items they want before heading to the store, as a tech start-up prepares to launch in the Island.
Stock.Live – which its founders hope will be live within four weeks – will collate up-to-date inventory information from Jersey retailers, including Romerils, Alliance and Voisins.
In the app, customers will be able to search for specific products and sizes and see a list of retailers that have it in stock.
The initiative received a grant from Digital Jersey and will be launching in the Island before being rolled out more widely, with managing director Dael Links stating that Jersey has the “perfect” economy for it.
The Island, he added, currently loses more than £400 million to online shopped – something he hoped to remedy.
Mr Links, who is based in Glasgow, used the example of a pair of Hugo Boss shoes which someone might order online because they do not realise they are available in Jersey stores.
He said: “The core proposition is to ensure that some of that money is retained on-Island.”
Mr Links added that working with Digital Jersey had been “seamless” and his team has also built partnerships with firms such as Ryde and Jersey Post.
A number of large retailers have already signed up, with Mr Links hoping that smaller operations, such as roadside hedge veg stalls, would also take advantage of the scheme.
The app is advertised as being free for retailers and as taking less than four hours for them to set up.
“The purpose of this product is to ensure consumers have a great shopping experience in Jersey and you can actually support the local economy,” Mr Links said.
“The by-product of that is that retailers are supported but also retailers reap the reward of having a connected economy and the retailers are brought to a stage digitally where they probably wouldn’t be themselves, with consumers they would not normally have access to.”
