The Airdrie Chamber of Commerce (ACC) will receive $87,465 of federal funding to encourage residents to shop local.
The funding will support the development, launch and promotion of ChamberMarket.ca, an Alberta-led solution designed to help local businesses with an online presence.
Marilyne Aalhus, executive director of ACC, describes the website as an online marketplace where all businesses, including chamber members, can sell their products, gift cards and services.
“It is a local option instead of using the Amazons of the world,” she adds.
“Online shopping is more common than ever before; this local platform will give our community and province as a whole the opportunity to support local businesses through online shopping.”
According to Aalhus, the Airdrie chamber is one of the first in Alberta to be involved in launching this new platform.
“We are very excited to be partnering with the Alberta Chambers of Commerce to launch the chambermarket.ca e-commerce platform to our community by early September,” says
“We are well versed in what the online e-commerce store is capable of and we can’t wait to start promoting it to our members and business community!”
She adds that the chamber is currently on-boarding businesses to the online store. The timeline to implement the website is early September for a soft launch and full launch to consumers in October.
“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, community chambers have truly been a lifeline for businesses,” says Ken Kobly, Alberta Chambers of Commerce president and CEO.
“As we transition to reopening and recovery, we still have a long road ahead to rebuild our economy. This federal funding will help chambers do what we do best: support local job creators.”
Aalhus says there will be awesome prizes to be won by those who shop on the Chambermarket.ca platform this year and there will also be prizes for businesses who sell their goods and services.
For more information on ACC, click here. To learn more about how to get your hands on some prizes, follow @airdriechamber on social media.
stacie@frogmediainc.ca
