Online Shopping Mall

Illawarra Mercury

Saturday April 16, 2005

By LYN DANNINGER

WOLLONGONG couple Yvonne and Chris Savage have created Local Mall, an online shopfront where for a modest investment small businesses have another way to sell their products and services.

The idea for a virtual mall came up about three years ago and they began marketing the service last year.

The couple's aim was to provide the service at roughly the same cost as setting up and running a mobile phone, Ms Savage said.

Initially, they had thought the site would be attractive to the kinds of people who sold their wares on weekends at local craft markets.

But so far the site has attracted a diverse cross-section of small businesses ranging from a wedding planner to an electrical inspection service and a finance company, she said.

Through a single portal, localmall.com.au consumers can access and place orders with businesses featured on the site.

Local mall takes care of all aspects related to the creation and day-to-day running of the site and works with the businesses to create their individual shopfronts, complete with a domain name.

Initial set-up costs start at around $200. Local Mall will host the business for a monthly fee of $25. The only requirement for opening an online shop within Local Mall is the ability of the business to accept major credit cards, direct deposit or cheques.

© 2005 Illawarra Mercury

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