Neighbourhood social networking app Nextdoor is piloting a new Local Deals feature in Belfast in a bid to help local businesses compete.
Hundreds of thousands of neighbourhoods across the world are connected by the Nextdoor app, with users in the UK, US, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, and Canada. Rolled out by Irish entrepreneur Sarah Friar over seven years ago, the app connects people to their immediate neighbours to discuss local issues or find recommendations for people to do work.
Now the company is trialling a new Local Deals feature designed to boost local business directly, enabling small businesses in Belfast to offer special deals to users in their particular neighbourhoods. The feature has been tested in the US already, but Belfast will serve as a test for how users in Europe will interact with the feature ahead of its Europe-wide launch.
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The new feature was launched on Friday by Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar at an event in Barclays Eagle Labs in the Ormeau Baths building. Friar specifically chose Belfast as the test-bed for the new feature due to the number of local businesses signed up to the app and the high number of recommendations to local businesses made by users in the city. A recent survey indicated that 70% of users would prefer to shop at local retailers if given the option, but discoverability for local business is a real problem.
Sarah Friar commented on the new feature: "Belfast is a vibrant city full of incredible local businesses that we’ve already seen making great use of Nextdoor’s Business Pages to attract new customers. Since launching Local Deals in the U.S., we’ve seen how it’s helped businesses reach the customers that matter the most to them - the locals - thus we wanted to do the same for our European neighbours. We are excited that businesses in Belfast can now utilise Local Deals as that extra push to get neighbours in their doors or in their networks, and then recommending them to their community."
If you run a business in Belfast and want to claim your free business page to take part in the new Local Deals scheme, head over to https://nextdoor.co.uk/create-business or download the Nextdoor mobile App on the iOS App Store or Google Play Store.
Source: Written based on press release
