These days, it feels like you can buy everything online. So, why can’t everything be from local businesses?
That’s the question Adam Haber, co-founder of Trellus, asked. His answer was to launch a site that serves as a sort of Amazon alternative, with one major difference from the corporate giant: It only offers products from nearby local, small businesses.
“It’s like a small business alternative to everything out there: Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy, Target, 1-800 Flowers. It’s all the products in one place, only small businesses,” Haber said.
The marketplace currently has over 100 local Nassau businesses from which people can get baked goods, flowers, home goods, toys, liquor, sweets, pet food, clothing, jewelry, artisan and farm fresh foods, natural health products and more delivered right to their doorstep in under 90 minutes, Haber said, adding that customers can basically order anything besides hot food.
While the app version of Trellus launched on March 20, the desktop version just went live on May 6. Since then, over 300 orders have been placed on the marketplace and the app has had thousands of downloads, Haber said.
So far, he said he’s been getting a positive response.
“Businesses absolutely love us. They love that they have the ability to not compete against corporate giants. They love that they don’t even need their own e-commerce platform,” Haber said. He said that many businesses on Trellus don’t have their own website and are using the marketplace as their online presence, adding that dozens more businesses are actively preparing to sign on to the platform.
“Consumers feel good about supporting small businesses,” he continued. “And, they can get things locally faster than anybody else ever could on Amazon or Walmart or any other big box store.”
Haber said he got the idea for Trellus after working in town government and on the campaign trail as a former state senator candidate, where he frequently talked with local business owners and politicians.
“I worked in government for about a decade, and I was head of economic development for the town of Hempstead for two years,” Haber said. “Every politician said the whole time, ‘Shop local. Shop local.’ But there’s no convenient, easy way to do it. Amazon and Walmart and big e-commerce are putting small businesses out of business.”
“I thought there was an opportunity,” Haber continued. “I went door to door for six months and spoke to hundreds of merchants, and they needed something like Trellus. They needed the ability to get products to their customers cheaply and they needed the ability to sell online without competing against corporate giants.”
Haber said he and his co-founders, JR Jensen and Brian Berkery, plan to continue growing the service, with the goal of expanding to Suffolk County and beyond.
“We’re really just coming out of the gate right now, but we have plans for national expansion,” Haber said. “The goal is to have every small business in America use our platform.”
He said Trellus is actively registering businesses in Suffolk now and is in conversation with businesses and governments in multiple other states. He said eventually, he hopes that people could order not only from small businesses in their immediate area, but also from small businesses from across the country.
“Nobody’s trying to champion small businesses like this, but everybody says they want to shop local,” Haber said. “There’s just nothing like Trellus in the United States.”
