New website brings Kilkenny shopping experience straight to your mobile
A new website has been developed to support local businesses who have been affected by Covid-19 by creating a one-stop shop for selling online.
Kilkenny Marketplace is a new online store in one place for retailers and businesses across the city and county.
Created by schoolmates Liam Patrick Kennedy from the city and Brian Manning from Ballyragget, the pals are hopeful the new website will give a big boost to local businesses in the countdown to what will be a very different type of Christmas this year.
There are currently nine well-known businesses selling their wares on the site. These include Hennessy Sports, Graham Shoes, Hair by Nigel, The Hurley Depot, Essaness Music, Khan’s Books, Catwalk of Kilkenny and The Watershed.
Founder Liam Patrick Kennedy believes the simplicity behind the idea and the ease of movement through the site will attract shoppers.
Liam told KilkennyNow.ie: “Customers can shop at multiple shops and checkout with a single basket while choosing either local delivery or click and collect.”
He added: “Kilkenny Marketplace was developed with my school friend Brian Manning in May of this year as a way to help support local businesses that had to close because of coronavirus. The site is was also created to help local businesses to compete with large companies that sell online.”
Kilkenny Marketplace is free for businesses to join and can even help businesses with no online footprint get set-up on the platform within a matter of days.
Liam adds: “We’ve helped local shops with no experience to get up and selling online in just a day or two. For shops that have no web presence at all we are an easy to use platform, while shops with websites already can easily join ours and reach a wider customer base and be found by more people.
“We believe that Kilkenny Marketplace can be the future for local businesses when it comes to trading online. It is easier for their customers to find them as they just need to go to one site.
“Shops don’t need to worry about keeping their site updated as we take care of that.”
