Online shopping portal is helping more firms

Independent businesses will be able to offer collection and home delivery on Horsham’s online shopping portal.

From this week, in a fresh agreement between Horsham District Council and developers, Visit Horsham, the portal will help firms who may not have an online business model to sell goods.

The agreement between the council’s economic development team and Visit Horsham also extends the window for free profiles for independents by another three months taking the Covid related offer right up until the end of August.

All food and drink businesses on the portal have to be properly certificated and be registered with the council for their hygiene rating.

The Virtual Horsham initiative forms part of the council’s Buy Local campaign, backed by this newspaper, which is supporting local traders that have continued to work tirelessly throughout the pandemic to deliver vital services for local people.

A council spokeswoman said: “The overall Buy Local campaign highlights how local traders have adapted to support public health guidelines, putting enhanced measures in place to keep their customers and staff safe.

“Businesses not able to open their premises have adapted their services to provide efficient online buying processes such as click and collect, phone order and collect, message order and collect and home deliveries, and this enhanced Virtual Horsham portal will enable easier access to these businesses.”

The Buy Local campaign encourages local people to choose local suppliers either online or in person, as this helps to support a whole network of other local people behind the scenes.