Announcing a new partnership between Google Canada and several local business groups are (left to right) Lisa Kowalchuk, of the Medicine Hat and District Chaber of Commerce, Kelli Ireland, of city-led Invest Medicine Hat, and Sandra Milne, of APEX Alberta, at a press conference on Monday at Medicine Hat City Hall. -- NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
The City of Medicine Hat will partner with and pay part of the cost of linking local businesses with two of Canada’s largest companies in an effort to get them better exposure in the online marketplace.
A Monday morning press conference held at city hall detailed the partnership of several local business groups, the city and Google Canada, which has said it hopes to add 50,000 small businesses across the company on its new platform, known as “ShopHERE.”
The major initiative, announced in April, expands the marketing system beyond its initial phase in Toronto, and this week’s announcement is the first outside Ontario.
The hope is to get 250 local business in Medicine Hat and Southeast Alberta involved in the program at no initial charge, as a strategy to help existing businesses weather a surge in online, rather than in-person, shopping.
“It’s been devastating for any entrepreneur and our community, and it’s vital for our business community to adapt,” said Kelli Ireland, marketing manager for Invest Medicine Hat -which will cover one-quarter of the cost of the program, about $170 per business, while Google waives the remainder of costs related to consultation and creation of the site.
The initiative was driven by the local branch of APEX Alberta, and becomes the first in the province to join the program that includes online retailing service provider, Shopify, which recently became the largest company by value on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Officials from Google Canada called it a “multi-sided partnership (that) involves all aspects of the community rallying to help small businesses.”
“Fundamentally the program sets up an online store to help businesses and artists adapt to the changes in the current environment,” Fab Dolan, the head of marketing with Google Canada, told the News in an interview.
Google will hire student and tech workers to provide marketing consultations and develop websites, and Dolan said local workers are encouraged to apply.
They will work with business owners to determine a strategy and then build sites, post a catalogue, and then have three-months free access to the network, before charges begin at a $30 per month minimum charge.
“For some sale businesses it might be a true e-commerce (plan of) selling online and shipping products and services across the country,” said Dolan. “For others it might be more of local business trying to drive curbside pickup and click to collect.”
While the pandemic has brought online challenges to brick-and-mortar location businesses into sharp focus, it only highlights a continuing trend toward online retailing.
“The longer term crisis for businesses is the shift in technology and consumer behaviour,” he said.
Officials at Monday’s press conference said the health of the local small business sector is of critical concern as the economy reopens from pandemic restrictions, and the promotion of a “shop local” effort has to have an online component as well.
“It’s open to all businesses, to non-profits and to artists, so we’re really hoping that we’ll just blanket Medicine Hat. It’s an exciting opportunity,” said Sandra Milne, of APEX, who added her group and local agency Community Futures-Entre Corps had been discussing a similar project for more than a year.
The decision to expand the “Digital MainStreet” project occurred in May, and the local project was quickly developed, said Milne.
“It happened pretty quickly, and Medicine Hat is the first community outside Ontario to be signed up.”
The local partners will promote the program, contacting members and explaining the project, while the city’s economic development office will cover 25 per cent of the costs. Ireland said that if 300 businesses complete the process, the cost the city would be about $50,000.
(EDITOR’S NOTE — This article contains has been updated to correct an error. The program involves a partnership with the ecommerce company “Shopify,” not as previously stated “Spotify,” the music streaming service. The News regrets the error.)
