Whanganui is soon to have its own shopping portal online.
Whanganui is soon to have its own shopping portal online.
This article was written prior to the Government announcement of 11 May.
So, as I write this we await the big announcement as to which level will carry us through the next few weeks, given that we have Covid -19 'eliminated'.
It is acknowledged that recovery is a multifacetedbeast.
There is the obvious requirement to ensure that our health system is better funded and prepared – a theory is that if we were better prepared for a pandemic we'd likely have spent less time in lockdown.
The other major aspect classed as 'obvious' is the economy, and in the simplest of terms the key will be how businesses adapt to doing things differently.
For example, in a 'real' meeting you would seldom be interrupted by a dog barking, a cat jumping onto the desk and into camera shot or participants departing to make a coffee mid-meeting.
Some technology is better than others and one satisfying piece of work that I have been involved with over the last few weeks has been assisting a very smart local entrepreneur and his team plan (and ready for release to market) a very smart trading platform – kind of Whanganui's answer to Alibaba.
Yetitech is the brainchild of Brad Kirkland who is a Whanganui product with significant vision and drive.
He has basically designed an effective trading platform to assist local retailers boost their revenues via on line trading. A working version is ready for market and Brad plans to release it soon. It has the following advantages over other platforms:
• It is 100 per cent designed, made and supported in Whanganui.
• It is significantly more economical than setting up your own site and having to market it from scratch.
• It's focus, at this time, is Whanganui but has a reach which is much further than a terrestrial store.
• It will operate passively outside of normal hours.
• It will mitigate risk of return to level 3 alert or higher (which, given the virus' transmissibility and long incubation period could occur at any time).
• It can serve retailers long after Covid has been dealt with.
I made mention of this platform in a previous article and since then Brad has invested many hours of his time getting the platform market ready. He has also assembled a team to support and further develop it. The version ready for release to the market is Stage 1 and it will be further developed over time but the basic functionality is there and ready to use.
Russell Bell
Thanks must go to Whanganui & Partners who have supported the early development and a number of other initiatives as the post-Covid recovery gathers early momentum. My message remains - stay local and buy local and, with assistance from innovators like Yetitech, there will be more opportunities to support our community and its awesome small businesses.
•If you are interested in using the Yetitech trading platform please call either me (021 244 2421) or Brad Kirkland on (021 262 5408). We can provide information such as cost and how to set up.
