Supportland: The Whimsical, Powerful, Local Business Initiative

Is there a simple solution to encourage customers away from the Big Box retailers and into the bricks-and-mortar local owned businesses? What would incentivize this transfer of service away from the giants and toward the independents? Furthermore, is there a business model that supports this switch by connecting and supporting local businesses, while simultaneously benefiting both the consumer and the community? The answer to these quandaries may be near: Let me introduce you to Supportland.

Supportland is the multi-faceted dream of a couple of self-professed "local business huggers" Katrina and Michael Scotto di Carlo based in Portland, Oregon. Born out of a desire to do good, collaborate and contribute to the local businesses they both cherish, the idea for Supportland was built. Through strategy sessions and "crowdsourcing" with friends who owned local businesses, Katrina and Michael recognized a opportunity to both create good, and integrate the local business economy. On the most basic level, Supportland has two functions: a rewards card and a network/platform for local business owners. The Supportland card is garnering attention and praise because it is a rewards card for keeping your dollars local: think airline miles, but without the blackout dates and redeye flights, and the bonus of enjoying local goods and collaboration. A cardholder can swipe their Supportland card while buying craft supplies and parlay the points into some locally roasted coffee beans. Local businesses enthusiasts—let's call them econo-locavores—are driven by the desire and passion to keep their money in the community; and few will ever turn down the opportunity for an incentive to support what they already love to do. In addition to the incentive points of the rewards card, the charming and efficient Supportland website is both a pleasure to peruse and an online source for local businesses and customers. The site functions as a directory of participants and, to support a community on a micro-local level, even a search by neighborhood. The website is a fantastic resource for the econo-locavore, taking the guess work out of errands and verifying which neighborhood business are indeed locally owned. Supportland members—the businesses that make up the network—are vetted to ensure the authenticity of locality. With a quick search of the Supportland site, I am ensured that my dollars stay right in my community.

The Supportland business is funded by the network member busineses for a small charge, but free of cost to the customer. In speaking with business owners who participate in the Supportland program, the benefits of participation are both immediate and gratifying. Polly Rask is the owner of Local Goods, an old-fashioned styled general store stocked with your basic household needs and more, who learned of the Supportland rewards card from a customer. The fact that customers themselves are advocating for participating businesses to join Supportland is alone a measure of a quality service. Immediately intrigued by the idea, Polly signed up her shop and has received nothing but positive benefit from the network. During one particular Supportland promotion, 95% of the customers to Local Goods were Supportland card members. 95% is a truly remarkable number—an A for any business strategy or for any specific promotion.

These benefits are direct and tangible to both the business owner and the customer. The effusive praise for Supportland was also evident from Tony Fuentes and his wife Jennifer, owners of Milagros, a boutique specializing in sustainable, fair trade and local maternity and baby products. Both Jennifer and Tony are strong advocates in the local business community, helping other businesses by consulting with policy makers to ensure that the local business community has a voice. Tony also heard about the Supportland card from members of the community and immediately met with Katrina to learn more. According to Tony, "A business like ours cannot survive if patrons in the community don't embrace the same values and ultimately embrace us. Shoppers with a Supportland card are more likely to appreciate the benefits of buying local and be more socially conscious in their spending decisions in general. Supportland is a way for us to connect with people who will appreciate our store and products."

Supportland is a truly multi-dimensional business. Whereas the card program may tilt a tad more toward benefitting the customer, the Supportland network and services lean back toward the business owner. As mentioned, the Supportland website allows cardholders to go online and spend their dollars locally, but this medium also allows the participating member businesses to learn of, and collaborate with, other Supportland-connected businesses. An example: Sprout Health, a wellness center, collaborated with the Milagros boutique to offer pre-natal yoga classes creating an opportunity and connection that may not have happened without the Supportland network. This synergy among local businesses is really what inspires Katrina and Michael and the rest of the Supportland team. They recognize that small businesses want to collaborate with each other, but the constraints and demands on a small business owner often do not allow them to facilitate these connections. With a network like Supportland, there is a natural opportunity to connect and collaborate amongst owners. A Supportland affiliated business fosters collaboration over competition; the Supportland network becomes both virtual and physical, a Main Street spreading across the community.

Supportland has fully embraced the ability to connect on a large scale via social networks and media, too. Subscribers to the Supportland newsletter stand at 6,000 and counting, while the number of Facebook fans also numbers in the thousands. Having a presence in social media is an efficiently and economically viable way to promote business; but again, not all small business owners have the means be present online on such a large scale. As a member, Supportland promotes on behalf of everyone within the network. This marketing is especially crucial for older local business that may not have embraced social networking just yet, but should not be left out simply because of the fast-paced times. A foundation of Supportland is to bring all businesses up and to collaborate for the benefit of the community as whole.

The network of business owners also benefit from Supportland because of the access to economic data Supportland can provide. Supportland.com is built upon a platform of simplicity, and is built to benefit third parties. Inherent in this creation is the ability to obtain economic data for the small business participant. [ed. note: see Katrina's comment below regarding aggregating purchasing patterns and personal privacy policies.] Supportland can show their members what card holders are purchasing and the frequency in which cards are used. Small business owners rarely have a voice in the economic media, unlike the conglomerate retailers which can utilize this economic data to steer more customers into their already expansive base. According to Katrina, providing small businesses with economic metrics makes the access to information, and thus growth, more equitable. If local businesses can glean economic information independent of the dominant retailers, they can encourage their own local business model.

The Supportland model was built for expansion; not just to exist within the local Portland small business community, but to spread the ethic of locally owned business everywhere. Through work with organizations such as the American Independent Business Alliance, Supportland has garnered national attention and international inquiries. The Scotto di Carlos envision a world connected and supported by local businesses and while the beginnings of Supportland were conceived with local businesses, the future goal is to see a Supportland-styled network benefitting local communities everywhere. In speaking with Supportland member businesses, the enthusiasm and determination for a nationwide Supportland network is strong. As members, both Polly Rask and Tony Fuentes agree that Supportland has the potential to really change local business for the better, not just in Portland. As Tony says, "Local, independent businesses reflect the unique vitality and diversity of the communities they are part of. To maintain the local businesses that help define our sense of place, there needs to be a clear way to identify and prioritize those businesses in our choice of where to shop. A Supportland program could be applied in any community to do help do this."

On top of all the data and the promotions, Supportland is just plain fun. From the colorful card itself, to a recent promotion prize of a personalized velvet painting, to the Paul Bunyan cutout that accompanies Supportland at sponsored events, it is evident that while the foundation of Supportland is expressly business focused, a degree of whimsy differentiates it from other boring corporate initiatives. It is obvious that the Scotto di Carlos love what they have created, as do the network members and card holders. Supportland offers up a rare trifecta, benefitting the local community businesses, the customers who support them, and the Supportland team. The Supportland model has the potential to really change the way local businesses and customers connect, and we can look forward to a future where Supportland designed cards nestle among the debit and library cards of wallets nationwide, and local businesses connect with one another to form the backbone of the new local economy.

photo: Shelby Brakken