My partner, Rich Hanley and I saw too many businesses closing and wanted to create a solution that would allow small business owners and their communities to grow. At no cost to the owners, LiveShopBuy, an e-commerce, education and technology platform offers a variety of features, from a free website and social media marketing tools to business coaching and Geo-targeting technology and an online marketplace, all in hopes of giving them the ability to more effectively promote their products and services. 

We are like an Amazon, Yellow Pages, Groupon and Yelp all in one, but exclusively for small to mid-size business. And what’s more, we give back up to 5% of our net profits to the communities from which sales originate. We do this to help fund charitable programs for the homeless, senior care, food banks and families in distress. 

I used to love going to the local hardware store, chatting with the local pharmacist and playing with animals at the local pet store. But now, as we seem to live in the land of big-box stores and mammoth online marketplaces, I believe many of those experiences have been stripped away. Because of this, we want to help carry small business' marketing and online commerce into the 21st century. 

With both copyrighted and patent-pending* technology, LiveShopBuy gives consumers a convenient way to shop locally and gives small businesses unrivaled local and national exposure. And now, you can be a part of it—we’re offering a truly unique opportunity to own a piece of our company.

Please join us if you share our vision.

Thank you,
Joseph Anselmo
Chairman & CEO

* Patent is currently under founder Joseph Anselmo's name, and we plan to assign same to LiveShopBuy.

This holiday shopping season, more shoppers plan to buy gifts online than in stores. That was one of the paramount findings of Deloitte’s 2017 Holiday Survey released at the end of October. 

This year, for the first time, more shoppers said the internet would be their top shopping destination (55 percent), moving mass merchants to second place (44 percent).  (Source: Adweek )

Retail is changing, and, in our opinion, the volatility we're seeing now is a result of the emergence and growth of big online companies and shifts in consumer behavior. We believe this change is happening so rapidly that many companies both small and large are not able to keep up.

In 2016 and 2017 alone, some major national retailers went out of business, while others closed more than 5000 stores in the U.S. Many we’d never heard of, but many we all know—Macy’s, Sears, RadioShack, Sports Authority, Michael Kors, Kmart, J.C. Penny, Gap, Bebe, Any Taylor, Toys-R-Us, Subway, Bon-Ton, and Staples are only a few.

And if that isn't bad enough, some of the online domineers like Amazon, which was built off the backs of retail brands and smaller merchants, are now competing for the same retail consumer sale. Amazon has in-house brands that are quietly taking over the site, with products in almost every category. In many cases, they come up as the #1 choice in search.

(Source: finance.yahoo.com)

Today, we believe small businesses must be really concerned. If major retail giants are having trouble competing, how will small businesses compete and survive?

At LiveShopBuy, we aim to provide small to mid-size local businesses with all the tools they need to compete, grow, and prosper in the market, in turn benefiting merchants, consumers, and their communities as a whole.

Because we have incorporated many unique products, services and advanced technologies like Geo-targeting into our platform, we believe

LiveShopBuy is unlike any other digital retail marketplace. We plan to revolutionize the e-commerce experience by making evident the connection between economic growth and interpersonal relationships among local merchants and consumers. 

LiveShopBuy is a digital, hyper-local comprehensive e-commerce, education and technology platform with enhanced social media marketing capabilities (web and mobile ready) that gives consumers a convenient way to shop locally and gives small businesses unrivaled exposure. 

In combining all top digital marketing mediums into one collaborative, cost-effective solution, we aim to help small businesses grow and compete against the large regional and national giants.

We use technology (copyrighted and patent-pending*) that allows shoppers to conduct search queries that display merchants in proximity to the zip code stored in the shopper’s home profile. This is different than other marketplaces, in which merchants with the most reviews and ratings get top billing. Shoppers also have the option of clicking an “I’m Traveling” option, which changes the search algorithm to look for merchants in their new current location.

*Patent is currently under founder Joseph Anselmo's name and we plan to assign same to LiveShopBuy.

This now gives local businesses the opportunity to come up on top in local searches and compete more effectively in their local area. On top of utilizing engaging marketing tactics, we’re also providing companies with a virtual storefront that translates this engagement into actual sales.

This data anticipates a 246.15% increase in worldwide e-commerce sales, from $1.3 trillion in 2014 to $4.5 trillion in 2021. That’s a nearly threefold lift in online revenue. This kind of growth is unbelievable and, even for many experts, hard to comprehend. 

Even more interesting is that 45% of small businesses still don’t even have a website.  And only about one third (36 percent) use a business website to communicate news to customers and potential customers.

(Source: CNBC)

And what does this mean for LiveShopBuy?

Simple—a huge opportunity to show small businesses the 21st-century way of selling online locally, nationally, and, later, internationally.

Our research shows that LiveshopBuy is the only online marketplace that not only offers the top three benefits that consumers love about online shopping but also overcomes the top three barriers.

• Preferring to pick up products in person.  When shopping locally on our platform, all consumers have the option for delivery or in-store pickup.

• Instant Gratification. Again, when shopping locally with us, you can pick it up right away, and many merchants do delivery or have same-day delivery services in their area. 
• The inconvenience of delivery/pick-up fees. When purchasing online from the businesses on our site, you can always pick it up to avoid delivery fees, and our merchants don’t charge pick-up fees.

According to the last U.S. census, there were roughly 28.8 million small business in our nation. (Source: SBA Gov 2016)

Within this group, 10 million or so of these businesses take the form of local retailers, consumer services, restaurants. Another 14 million are home-based businesses, many of these being small online business, which gives us a total of 24 million that stands as our primary target market.

In today’s tech age, e-commerce continues to grow at staggering rates. In 2017, retail e-commerce sales worldwide reached $2.304 trillion, a 24.8% increase over the previous year.  M-commerce sales worldwide reached an estimated $1.357 trillion in 2017 or 58.9% of e-commerce spending overall.  By 2021 m-commerce will account for 72.9% of all e-commerce market. 

(Source: eMarketer)

The facts are clear—retail sales are transitioning from traditional brick-and-mortar stores to online stores. We believe their survival depends on realizing that this change is inevitable and seizing the opportunity that LiveShopBuy has to offer.

The LiveShopBuy team is passionate about giving back, which prompted another facet of the company: the “Community First” program.

We are offering you the unique opportunity to own a piece of a company that's not only helping small business grow, but that also gives back up to 5% of its net profits to the communities from which sales originate.

Through this program, a portion of LiveShopBuy’s revenue will go directly into the community and provide solutions to the five basic needs—food, clothing, shelter, warmth and health care—for locals living in poverty.

Community First will help fund existing programs that assist the needy and focus on long-term goals such as education, job training, and employment. We not only want to help small business owners compete and thrive in this new digital marketing age, we also hope to fund poverty alleviation and inspire people to do good in local communities across the U.S.

We are a team of brilliant entrepreneurs and techies.

We love to work hard, have fun, and help our clients thrive in this digital age while giving back to local communities. Together we have pioneered and developed a new high-tech e-commerce marketplace that we believe will allow any small to mid-size merchant to compete on the same level as any large national retailer or online giant.

We believe there are millions of shoppers and thousands of retail stores, but only a handful of marketplaces and consumers both young and old love online marketplaces. Just look at companies like Amazon and eBay. With your help, our plan is to establish a significant presence in the U.S. and later expand our marketplace into countries throughout the world—we see LiveShopBuy soon becoming a global brand.

We couldn't have done it without a ton of help from our early investors, incredible advisers, current employees and, hopefully, new investors like you.

Why we believe online shoppers will shop on LiveShopBuy

• 71% of shoppers believe they will get a better deal online than in stores.  (Source: nchannel ) 
• By 2019, it is estimated that there will be 224 million digital shoppers in the United States.  (Source: Statista  )
• 65% of online shoppers feel comfortable purchasing from merchants on online marketplaces they’ve never heard of before.  (Source: Digital Commerce 360)
• 69% of online shoppers prefer to shop on an online marketplace such as Amazon. (Source: Clutch)
• One-third of shoppers (33%) cite convenience as the key motivator to shop online rather than in a physical store. (Source: Clutch)
• 50% of shoppers are more likely to purchase online if they can pick-up in the store.  (Source: CNBC)
• 57% of shoppers choose an online marketplace because of the ability to compare prices.  (Source: Clutch )

Why we believe LiveShopBuy will attract merchants

• Our model is a great equalizer for small businesses, and they’re realizing the benefit of online marketplace branding
• We believe Amazon and eBay favor sellers with better ratings and more reviews, so it’s difficult for the smaller business to catch up.
• 60% of adult Americans are happy to know they won’t have to shop in a crowded mall or store. (Source: econsultancy )
• 51% of adult Americans preferred to shop from the comfort of their own home.  (Source: econsultancy )
• 63% of sellers only sell on marketplaces. (Source: WebRetailer ) 
• Only 17% of the small business market have tried creating their own online e-commerce store.  (Source: smallbiztrends)
• Only 28% of US small businesses are selling online.  (Source: nchannel)
• We believe Amazon is becoming a pay-to-play platform, so it’s wise for merchants to diversify their channels.