It’s time to get online with an ecommerce store, right now!
There has never been a better time to take your business online. Are you a small to medium sized business owner? Do you live in British Columbia, Canada? If so you may qualify for a new Grant just launched for B.C.’s business owners!
It is called the Launch Online Grant Program and it is part of StrongerBC, B.C.’s Economic Recovery Plan. With this new grant program the government will invest up to $12 million to help small and medium sized businesses throughout BC move their business model online.
How does this grant works to save money getting online?
The Launch Online Grant program will provide funding to B.C. based businesses that will allow them to create an online shop and/or improve their e-commerce in order to attract more local business and reach new markets. The Grant will pay up to 75% of eligible expenses to launch your online store, up to a maximum of $7500 per business. The whole idea is to help boost B.C.’s economy and support business owners.
The program is now accepting applications from businesses who are ready to start and finish their online shop within 12 weeks. There are however specific eligibility criteria that you must meet in order to qualify for the Grant. Click here to determine if your business is eligible.
The program application intake will be open until the funds have been fully appropriated, so if you qualify don’t hesitate to submit your application!
What will the ecommerce grant cover?
The funding you receive from the Grant will help cover up to 75% of costs for expenses involved in launching your online store. This includes Service Provider costs such as:
- Platform and website development
- Copy and online content writing
- Developing an online inventory of goods and products
- E-commerce platform subscription (up to 1 year)
- Search Engine Optimization
- Creating Banners and other Embedded advertising and much more!
Another really great aspect to this program is that successful applicants must use one or more B.C. based service provider(s) to build or improve their online store. The only non-B.C.-based eligible expenses are:
- Platform subscription costs
- Purchase of online photos and graphics
- Purchase of online promotional space such as Facebook ads
Click here to visit the Launch Online website to learn more about the program.
Overall this is a really great opportunity for eligible B.C. business owners! Submit your application without delay and take advantage of this program.
If you would like help building your online store and launching your business online send us a message. We offer a free 20 minute consultation as well as a free analysis of your existing website (if you already have an online store) with suggested changes on how to improve your e-commerce.
Why is this a big deal?
It is important to realize the power of e-commerce if you do not have an online store setup yet for your products.
Picture a store open 24 hours 7 days a week, with no need for staff to be there all the time. Picture a store where you know exactly where your customers are coming from and which of your marketing campaigns brought them in, without needing to ask them. That’s the power of an e-commerce store. And there is no limit to scale it.
There has never been an easier and more afforadable time to create an ecommerce store. Software like Shopify and Woocommerce makes it extremely easy and fast to launch your store and start to get online sales. (we have a great article here about the difference of both platforms)
And the good thing is … the govermenent will pay almost everything to get it online!
At this point in time we still don’t for how long we will still be in the pandemic restrictions. These restrictions might affect your business and part of the solution is definitely an ecommerce store.
Do you qualify for the grant?
If your business is based in B.C. (Vancouver, Burnaby, Fraser Valley, Kootenays, anywhere in BC!), fill out the form below and one of our experts will assess your answers and get back to you with a plan if you seem to qualify for the grant. You can save up to $7500 on your ecommerce store with this grant!
