Kozhikode: ‘Shop Local’ campaign launched by India’s leading PU footwear manufacturer, VKC Pride to promote neighbourhood shopping and energise local businesses has rolled across nine states followed by its success in Kerala. Past 70 days of the campaign has seen a remarkable increase in the number of customers and sales in more than 15,000 smaller shops across the state which were badly hit by the pandemic. The drive also helped an increase in demand and sales of the VKC brand products.
As part of the drive VKC Group had also launched an insurance cover scheme called ‘Shop Local Dealer Care’ for small retailers and a Benevolent Fund to support the traders and their families. The company also introduced a mobile application ‘VKC Parivar’ to drive the customers directly to their neighbourhood stores for purchases. These initiatives altogether helped the Shop Local campaign gaining momentum. Following the success in Kerala, the campaign has also been launched in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Assam.
Commenting on the success of the Shop Local campaign, VKC Razak, Managing Director, VKC Group, said: “Our objective is to revive the shop local culture and strengthen small traders in the neighbourhoods. As shopping is increasingly becoming an online affair, Shop Local is a counter culture that strengthens local economies. The VKC family, which comprises distributors, sub dealers, retailers and customers, is proud to have introduced this revolutionary campaign that makes real change on the ground. We are also proud to have come up with this novel idea that helps the 125 crore Indians to participate and contribute to a cause that will empower the small and medium retailers in the country. We expect to strengthen at least 2 lakh neighbourhood businesses through the #ShopLocal expansion in the next 90 days throughout India.”
The weekly gift scheme introduced as a part of the ‘Shop Local’ campaign, has been extended upto June 30, 2022 with offering more prizes. All VKC brands like VKC Pride, VKC Stile, VKC Lite, VKC DeBongo and VKC Pride Eezy are included in the prize scheme. The company has advised customers to verify VKC trademarks on the products and ask for VKC e-coupons from the shops to ensure prizes.
