When the pandemic first began to take hold in Texas, local entrepreneur Colt Mercer found himself with more free time as shelter in place orders set him working from home. So, he focused all his attention on writing code for a project he and a few other small business owners had been discussing.
The result is recently launched LocalOnly.US, an online directory aimed at connecting North Texas residents to small businesses, whether that’s shopping for clothes or looking for something to eat, or if you are looking for a locally owned mechanic or barber. Mercer said he hopes creating a hyperlocal community can uplift the entire small business scene.
“We talked about in the past, how do we position a platform that only shows small businesses… and collectively, if we all pitch in, we can compete against large businesses much better. That’s kind of the idea behind the platform,” Mercer told NTX Inno.
The project initially got started as a way to help small businesses come together in a way that they can better compete with the larger players in their industry. For free, small business owners or patrons can add a local company to the directory, including a short profile with photos, website links and reviews. And for a small listing fee, businesses can add things like coupons, promotional event and menus.
“For the consumer, it’s about supporting small businesses. Me and my friends, if we go somewhere, we’re not going to McDonalds or Chili’s or things like that, we’re looking for local small businesses,” Mercer said. “We know that there’s other consumers like this, so we wanted to create a platform where we can create that following and help small businesses.”
To keep the directory exclusive to small businesses, in addition to its core three-person team, LocalOnly.US also employs two part-time moderators to verify that companies listed check out.
The launch of LocalOnly.US comes at a time when many small businesses are struggling amid the financial uncertainty caused by the pandemic. Small businesses make up about 45 percent of all Texas jobs. And locally, at least 3,200 have permanently closed their doors in North Texas since March.
And in addition to helping small businesses through the current crisis, Mercer sees LocalOnly.US as a potential path to recovery, saying that small businesses are bigger drivers of job and wage growth than the larger enterprise players in the market.
“We could have launched nationally, we could have just said, ‘Okay, let’s do a mass upload of businesses across the nation. Let’s launch our marketing campaign nationally, and we’re just going to get businesses to list and that will create revenue,’” Mercer said. “That’s not what this is about. The reason we’re in DFW and I don’t plan on leaving DFW for a while is we are going to do absolute brand loyalty. That’s really what we're looking for.”
Collectively, Mercer said it's difficult for small businesses like his and those of his partners to compete with larger firms. And many find it difficult to find attention, with many advertising-generating giants like Google and Yelp having costs that can act as a barrier to entry.
That’s why beyond being a directory, Mercer sees LocalOnly.US as almost like a movement. Currently, the site lists businesses in Carrollton, Frisco, Plano and The Colony. And as it looks to add more cities and businesses in the region, Mercer said one of the company’s biggest focuses is on educating consumers and creating a brand that encompasses the entire local small business community. The company is looking to kick that off by filming and sharing the stories of other founders launch journeys, struggles, successes and the ways they have navigated the pandemic. By creating a buzz about the entire community, Mercer hopes that will in turn increase consumer’s loyalty to that community.
The company currently has a film crew on standby and is looking for other small businesses to participate. It has also filmed a number of short educational videos aimed at teaching consumers the value of shopping small and shopping local.
“We don’t want to leave this market until we’ve created that brand loyalty and helped our partners, those who listed on our site,” Mercer said.
Because their focus is on local businesses only and on being part of supporting that community, Mercer said he is not concerned by LocalOnly.US’ most obvious rival in the market – Yelp. He added that he thinks many small businesses will see the benefit of LocalOnly.US over its competitor, as one of his business partners has previous experience with Yelp filtering out good reviews after declining to market on the platform. It’s something that other small business owners in North Texas have previously alleged.
And while it will likely take more than a year to work its way to a court room, small businesses and companies like LocalOnly.US may see more attention should the Department of Justice win its antitrust case against Google. Part of the governments claims is that the Alphabet-owned company is able to charge advertisers more than it could if it didn’t participate in “exclusionary” conduct.
However, for the moment, LocalOnly.US is not looking to be a national player. Mercer said in keeping with the company’s mission to help local small businesses, he is currently focused on the marketing aspect of the company and continuing to build out its North Texas directory. Dallas and a number of surrounding suburbs are set to hit the directory next. Eventually, Austin and Houston will get their own local directories as well.
As it expands, the company is also looking at adding locally-owned franchise store locations to its directories.
“People don’t talk enough about what small businesses do for our economy, and so much of our money goes to large businesses that we don’t even think about it,” Mercer said. “It’s not just small businesses, but how can we enable people to consciously shop smarter everywhere they go. That’s the idea.”
