We are excited to announce that the lovely city of Belfast has been chosen to pilot a new feature for local businesses. Launched at the Barclays Eagle Lab at Ormeau Baths in Belfast by Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar, ‘Local Deals’ allows local businesses to promote an offer, discount, or another incentive to new and existing customers in exactly the neighbourhoods they want to target. The new ‘Local Deals’ feature is part of Nextdoor’s on-going commitment to help businesses connect with their local community.
Belfast was selected as one of the first cities in Europe to launch Local Deals, as there had been an abundance of both business sign-ups to the platform and local business recommendations from neighbours in the city, as compared to other European cities.
Sarah Friar, Nextdoor CEO, said: “Belfast is a vibrant city full of incredible local businesses that we’ve already seen making great use of Nextdoor’s Business Pages to attract new customers. Since launching Local Deals in the U.S., we’ve seen how it’s helped businesses reach the customers that matter the most to them – the locals – thus we wanted to do the same for our European neighbours. We are excited that businesses in Belfast can now utilise Local Deals as that extra push to get neighbours in their doors or in their networks, and then recommending them to their community.”
In a recent survey, nearly 70% of Nextdoor members told us that they would prefer to shop at a local independent business over a high-street chain. Nextdoor is the only platform where businesses can ensure Local Deals in Belfast reach real people at real addresses in their neighbourhood.
Last week, at the Ormeau Baths, Nextdoor hosted an event in partnership with Barclays Eagle Labs for Belfast-based businesses to learn more about how Local Deals and tips on how to grow their business at the local level. Those on the panel included Adrian Doran, head of corporate banking at Barclays Northern Ireland, and Glyn Roberts, Retail Northern Ireland CEO, as well as two local business owners, Aaron Keenan, a plumber, and Kieran Meehan, who owns the frozen yoghurt business YoggieBerrie.
Adrian Doran, Head of Corporate Banking for Barclays said, “On behalf of Barclays Eagle Labs, it’s a great privilege to be part of the Nextdoor launch of Local deals in Belfast. We have no doubt that Nextdoor offers a genuine marketing and growth opportunity for the myriad of local businesses here in Northern Ireland, which are key to our economy. Sarah Friar is a fantastic ambassador for Northern Ireland, and it’s great for Belfast to get in ahead of the curve on something as big as this and we look forward to seeing it rolled out from here.”
Arron Keenan, who has used Nextdoor to help his plumbing business take off, said: “I started this small plumbing and heating business a year or so ago, due to becoming made redundant – If it was not for the fantastic community on Nextdoor and its easy to access online network, I would have next to no work coming through. Nextdoor has been very good to me, I am very thankful to the whole community behind it.”
For Belfast businesses to set up their Local Deal, they need to claim their free business page on Nextdoor: https://nextdoor.co.uk/create-business, or download the Nextdoor App on the App Store or Play Store.