Local businesses offer online shopping to compete with major retailers

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Holiday shoppers are expected to spend $280 billion in online shopping this year. Many of those shoppers are hoping to take advantage of Cyber Monday deals. 

Amazon, Ebay and Walmart are likely to make up a large share of those sales, but local businesses here in the Cape Fear are also hoping to get their piece of the pie. 

One those businesses is Monkee’s of Wilmington. Monkee’s is a luxury clothing store that opened in Wilmington in 1995, and has grown to more than 60 locations across the East Coast.  

Julie Sullivan has worked as a manager at the Wilmington location for more than 14 years.

She says the online store brings in a mix of sales from people locally and across the country.

“A lot of our online are from people that are out of state, or not, they could still be just down the street or whatever, but we do get a lot of tourists obviously because of the town that we live in,” Sullivan said. 

Another local business exploring online shopping is Edge of Urge on Market Street. 

Edge of Urge opened their online storefront just before the COVID-19 pandemic. But even after lockdowns ended, Assistant Manager Maddie Brown says the online store proved to be invaluable. 

“It’s grown substantially over the last few years, we’re grateful. It’s been super fun to have customers that found us online then come to visit in-store,” Brown explained. 

Brown hopes that other local businesses will consider adding an online store to boost sales. 

“We’ve been able to reach a larger audience so I think for all small businesses trying to get new customers is always a goal so I think it would benefit everyone,” Brown said. 

As Sullivan notes, one reason many people enjoy shopping locally instead of large retailers is their attention to customer service.  

“If you are trying to find something online or you can’t get into the store, give us a call and we can help you out over the phone as well,” Sullivan said. 

Globally, online shopping revenue topped $5.8 trillion last year according to Captial One. That’s projected to grow to nearly $10 trillion by 2030, making an online presence for retailers even more important in the years to come.