Newburyport’s LocalGinger Wins
the North of Boston Business Plan Competition
LocalGinger was declared the 2010 winner of the North of Boston Business Plan Competition yesterday. The newly-launched business based in Newburyport provides a new marketing channel for local businesses to offer exclusive deals to local residents. Twenty-two businesses submitted business plans this year and after presentations for the semi-finals and finals, LocalGinger was awarded a check for $5000 yesterday at Salem State Business School where the finals were held.
The North of Boston Business Plan Competition is put on by the Enterprise Center, a small business growth center for entrepreneurs. The competition is designed to find companies that are less than three years old and plan to grow to at least five employees in the next two years. In order to be eligible the business must commit to locate in Essex County, MA or the Merrimack Valley of MA. The majority of judges in the competition are early stage investors and bankers.
LocalGinger works with merchants and service providers to provide exclusive offers to LocalGinger members. Deals are posted on their website and promoted via Facebook and email and require a certain number of purchases to kick in. Once enough customers have committed to an offer, the offer goes live.
LocalGinger has featured offers from many local businesses such as Leary’s Fine Wines, Repose Yoga, Riverside Cycles, MetroRock Indoor Climbing, and The Upper Crust. Both businesses and buyers are thrilled the company chose to beta-test their technology in Newburyport. The company has launched in Naperville, Il and is planning to expand into four additional cities in the near future.
Kendra LaPreste, owner of Studio Salon & Spa on Pleasant Street in Newburyport recently ran a deal that gave LocalGinger customers a $45 pedicure for just $22. The offer resulted in 84 sales in just two days. “I was very pleased to receive the list of buyers and see that 80% of them are new customers,” said LaPreste. “This was an easy way for me to try a new kind of promotion without any up-front expenses. I’d certainly run another deal with LocalGinger again.”
Arik Keller, the president and co-founder of LocalGinger, was very pleased to win the competition. “While we have been very confident of our abilities and our launch has been overwhelmingly successful, having our business plan fully vetted and selected as the best among a truly talented pool of entrepreneurs boosts our confidence and adds credibility to our outreach for growth. We are proud members of the Newburyport business community and hope our continued growth benefits the North Shore in many different ways.”
The business plan was submitted at the end of February, just weeks after LocalGinger began operations. In the weeks since, the company has had a successful launch. Said Keller, “Even in the short time since we entered the contest, we have proven our model – we have engaged with over 20 businesses and hundreds of customers to generate over 1000 transactions in only six weeks.”
To learn how you can join LocalGinger, just go to LocalGinger.com and select “Northshore”. If you are interested in advertising through LocalGinger, please contact info@LocalGinger.com or call 877 741 4940.
