New North East digital marketplace launches in bid to "play Amazon at its own game"

A new digital retail venture is set to be launched in the North East to help small regional businesses compete with international online retailers.

Thriving North, a multi-vendor online store, will create a digital marketplace similar to Amazon, with one key difference - all its sellers will be based in the North East.

The site aims to bring together Northern businesses, allowing customers to pay for products from different stores in a single order.

Colin Anderson and David Fox, Thriving North’s co-founders, commented: “With most shops closed, people are naturally heading online and obviously the first names that come to mind are Amazon and eBay.

“There’s no denying that these two giants are convenient and quick, but their gains during these times come at the expense of heartache and loss for local business owners and their families.

“So, we’ve decided to play Amazon and eBay at their own game by bringing local retailers together under one digital roof, in the hopes of resurrecting regional retail and providing a lifeline to local people.”

Colin added: “While many retailers will have their own successful website, not all shoppers will take the time to search out and shop with local websites individually, instead preferring the quicker and easier option of using one of the online giants.

“Therefore, it’s our intention is to create a similarly convenient shopping experience to complement these existing local sites by creating a single platform for both desktop and mobile devices, where local suffering businesses can all come together start trading again in the hopes of staving off permanent closure.

“The overriding concept of Thriving North is very simple – it’s about local people, helping local businesses, to help local people.

“We will offer retailers the help they need, by providing them with the opportunity to band together on our Thriving North platform.

“We will then need the support of local people by seeing them shop via Thriving North, so we can in turn help those most in need at this unprecedented time.”

Thriving North is currently crowdfunding ahead of its launch.