Pontiac, Mich. – Ten Main Street Oakland County communities are collaborating to help their downtown small businesses gain e-commerce capabilities with the launch of ShopOCMainStreets.com, the first website of its kind in Michigan. This platform allows shoppers to complete e-commerce transactions securely with one checkout process. Nearly 70 downtown businesses have already loaded their products to the new site.

“Coming out of the COVID pandemic, we all knew that our downtown businesses needed to expand into e-commerce,” said Kristi Trevarrow, executive director for Downtown Rochester. “Being part of Main Street Oakland County and the national network that provides, we were connected to Member Marketplace, Inc. They build and maintain the website, provide technical support to the participating small businesses, and help customers visiting the site.”

Products include apparel and accessories, bath and beauty, books, collectibles and antiques, food and beverage, health and wellness, home and garden, pet supplies and more. Participating MSOC downtowns are Franklin, Highland, Holly, Lake Orion, Oak Park, Ortonville, Oxford, Pontiac, Rochester and South Lyon.

“More communities and businesses will be added in the coming months,” said Kelly Westbrook, DDA executive director for Oxford. “The participating MSOC communities’ downtown businesses will be able to affordably sell online through one website—marketing together as a localized group.”

Participating downtowns will also be able to showcase their downtown on the site with an individual landing page to increase visibility and visitors. Small businesses already selling online can add the marketplace as an additional selling channel. Businesses with a Shopify or Square website can sync and integrate their shops.