During the pandemic, the world has witnessed

the vulnerability of small businesses around the globe.

Unable to harness the mass marketing machines

used by large corporations, small businesses

have struggled to stay afloat in the context

of harsh competition and little support. 

 

With less and less small businesses owners being

able to provide competitive advantages over

larger chains and corporations in terms of

cost and efficiency, they have been left to

rely on local customers who purchase for

the sole purpose of supporting local business owners. 

 

This year, the world shifted significantly further into the digital realm. Large companies didn’t struggle to fill the gap left by small businesses, and small businesses were left unable to retain their customer bases previously maintained by personal relationships with their customers. Nevertheless, this shift has left many people looking for ways to support small businesses in their area, but left mostly to their devices looking for how to do so. 

 

This is where Parta comes in. Parta is a mobile platform that helps users connect with small businesses in their area, creating a greater impact in their community with every dollar spent. 

It’s a simple, smart, secure, and reliable solution which harnesses the power of hyper-local communities. 

Furthermore, Parta is an easy way for small businesses to increase their online presence without spending a penny. Parta allows the user to search and filter businesses by category and distance, providing a comprehensive platform which benefits both the user and drives natural traffic to the business. 

 

Parta allows small businesses to register, add personal details, and to be quickly found by users eager to shop with them. On the user’s side, they are able to create an account and start searching within minutes. They are able to search from any industry, for both online retailers and brick-and-mortar stores based in their area. Parta aims to bridge the gap between the digital world and the traditional small business shopping experience by allowing users to see owners’ photos and names when they search. While this may seem minor, it is the lost interpersonal connection that Parta aims to restore to the everyday shopping experience. 

Quickly, users are able to find accessible options to shop from that will provide them with a personal and helpful experience. 

Moreover, Parta aims to create a positive feedback loop between consumers and businesses by allowing users to leave reviews and pushing well-received businesses to the top of search results. 

 

As a target audience, we expect to attract digitally-engaged people aged 15-35. This app is universally attractive to this age group, as recent surveys showed that upwards of 70% of millennials are looking to actively support small businesses. This is the section of the population most engaged digitally and as such would be able to utilise the app to its full potential. 

 

From a business perspective, Parta provides a highly scalable business model with moderate amounts of existing competition in the space. With the increasing population of millennials looking to actively support local business, there is no application that currently provides a platform that consolidates all of the information consumers look for when looking to purchase from a small business of any kind. This creates an opportunity for Parta to become the go-to application in this space. 

 

Parta would be able to be quickly adopted by curious consumers through the traditional method of word of mouth, as well as through social media marketing. As for monetization, it would be critical that the app remain free to both users and businesses. As such, the monetization model would be based on in-app advertising, with each user seeing one ad for each visit to the app. Taking the target audience into account, as well as several other key metrics (cited at the end of the report), we estimate a maximum potential revenue of $36M monthly. 

 

While Parta may have great potential, there are little fields left to date with no existing competition. In this case, Parta has to actively differentiate itself from existing giants such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, GoogleMaps, as well as others. 

While there are other, smaller startups in the space, they have yet to produce any competitive differentiation that will put them above the mentioned established companies in the space. While these established companies present a challenge, Parta aims to produce a hyperlocal and personal experience, and can be used interchangeably with the applications mentioned above. 

While the existing services focus on the general process of searching for all businesses, Parta aims to provide a platform specifically to showcase and promote nearby small businesses as alternatives to established chains and corporations. Parta doesn’t aim to be a search engine, but rather a go-to application for people who are conscious about where they shop.