ePages, one of the leading providers of online shop software in the cloud, is offering brick-and-mortar retailers free online shops so that they can keep running their business.
Small shop owners have the option of creating their own free online shop to mitigate the economic consequences of the current situation, while their customers can continue to order safely from home. The service will remain free of charge at least until the end of June and beyond if the regulations on shop closures persist, or if risk groups still need to be protected.
The measures against coronavirus, which include the closure of brick-and-mortar shops, pose major challenges for the retail sector. This initiative is set to help retailers transform their businesses to sell online, helping brick-and-mortar shops to continue running their stores digitally.
“Brick-and-mortar retailers are particularly affected by the corona crisis, especially small shop owners,” says Wilfried Beeck, founder and CEO of ePages. “While online trade is booming, physical retail is partly fighting for its existence. We have brought partners with a resilient infrastructure on board, so that we can immediately provide a quick solution for thousands of merchants.” The ‘stayopen’ initiative is supported by many international ePages partners. In Germany, leading payment service provider Payone, the joint venture of the Ingenico Group and Deutscher Sparkassenverlag, and VR Payment, the payment organisation of the Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken, in Switzerland the largest hosting provider Hostpoint, in France Box e-commerce, in Spain Hostalia, in Finland the Vilkas Group, in Australia eCorner and in Portugal Dominios have joined the initiative so far. Updates on the participating partners can be found at epages.com/stayopen.
The free online shops can be created at www.epages.com.
More information about the ‘stayopen’ initiative and the offers of the ePages partners can be found at epages.com/stayopen.
About ePages
More than 100,000 merchants operate their online stores on the ePages platform; complete with up to 15 languages, search engine optimisation and responsive designs for mobile devices. Permanent updates to the cloud platform ensure that the stores are always up to date. ePages provides integrations to more than 80 technology partners such as online marketplaces, comparison shopping websites, payment providers and ERP vendors. ePages partners with hosting providers, telecom companies, payment providers and banks as well as POS and ERP vendors to bring best of breed commerce solutions to their SMB clients. The company is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany with additional offices in London, Barcelona and New York.
Holly brings a wealth of experience in both print and digital publishing. As Modern Retail’s Content Editor, Holly is passionate about helping independent retailers to thrive in today’s ever-changing market.
