Download Take Back Your Customers - Lyndon Area Chamber of Commerce

…Understanding the Matrix
Presented by Northeast Kingdom Online and ingenium
Buying local…
 Stimulates the local economy
 Generates more local sales revenues
 Reduces unemployment rates, property taxes,
foreclosures, utility rates, and public service layoffs
(teachers, police, firemen)
 Increases jobs, tax revenues, community service,
town infrastructure, quality of education, and quality
of life.
1/2 of 1 cent spent in Littleton per
day equals ONE LOST NEK job…
 Vermont’s annual gross domestic product,
$22,114,000,000, divided by an employee base of
348,993 employees equals an average of $63,365
produced by each employee in Vermont…
 So if 35,000 people (NEK’s population) spend ½ of 1
cent per day in New Hampshire, the NEK loses
$63,875 in revenues over a year’s time…
 Said another way, we LOSE ONE JOB when locals
spend even a minimal amount across the river in
Littleton.
Local purchases from customers and
business to business result in…
 An awesome cycle of community and economic
growth…
 When more people buy from your business, those sales
create revenues for you to pay more employees, deposit
more tax revenues, produce higher wages…
 And with those increased jobs and wages, more people
have more money to buy more of your products!
The Matrix gives the “Buy Local”
movement a real value!
 The number we get from inputting your business’
expenses into the Matrix calculation represents how
much of every dollar spent at your store stays local.
 For example, your Local Return could work out to be
63%, which would mean that you pump 63 cents out of
every dollar spent at your store back into our local
economy! McDonald’s’ Local Return, for example, is
only 33%*.
 The Matrix makes “Buy Local” more than just a feelgood, emotional idea because it shows how much
buying local really impacts our community.
Why should you have the Matrix
calculated for your business?
 Our research shows that approximately 47%* of all
products at WalMart, Home Depot, Staples, and
Lowes (to name a few!) can be bought for similar
prices in our local market.
 The Matrix can also take the prices of those big box
store items and compare them with your local items,
taking into account some pretty intense calculations
and algorithms… And guess what?!
 Your local goods will always have a lower “real”
cost because you give back more to the local
economy than any of those big box stores.
Major benefits of the Matrix…
 The Matrix raises awareness of your own business’
impact on the local economy.
 It also raises consumers’ awareness of the impact
they can have on their own community and lives by
changing a fraction of their buying habits.
 Like voting, every local purchase makes a difference.
Even if only 10% of people change their buying habits,
the benefits are hundreds of thousands of dollars
in additional local revenues!
What your business gets…
 A real number to show patrons how much your
business gives back to the local economy.
 This number would be proudly displayed as a placard
in your storefront/on your front door, on your website,
and in any marketing and advertising materials.
Our Lyndon Area Chamber of
Commerce gets…
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Plug-in software for the Matrix ™ that is
downloadable, online, or installable through a thumbdrive, and made available to all LACC business
members
Plug-in software for all graphic representation of
the Matrix ™, whose use, subject to LACC rules, will
allow Chamber members, like yourselves, to print
storefront placards, marketing materials, web banners,
etc, for public display
Web presence and functionality consulting by
ingenium and NEKO for LACC.
Consumer education…
 Ingenium will provide newsletter content that will assist in
raising local awareness of the Matrix and what your
business’ Local Return number represents.
 The newsletters will also raise awareness on:
 Loss of revenues to big box stores
 Loss of local jobs/employees because of big box stores
 Volumes and types of local businesses lost to big box stores
 Volume and types of businesses for which Lyndonville is, or
can be, competitive on a regional level
 Actual loss of tax base and related municipal services due to
job and revenues lost because of big box stores.
Ready to take back
your customers?
Join us!