The Route Relief Company announced plans to use Shopify, Facebook Marketplace and possibly eSellerSocial to expand offerings for buyers/sellers during the COVID-19 crisis in Minnesota.

The Route Relief Company, a business that provides both last mile delivery and route relief for bread, tortilla, snack, chip, cookie, coffee, jerky, DSD, shopper and vending routes for independent operators, is now experimenting with eCommerce and marketplace solutions to expand their offerings. The company plans to start delivering items from sellers to buyers, starting on the Facebook Marketplace platform in Minnesota. Either buyers or sellers can pay for the pickup and delivery of listed items on Marketplace. Payment for items must be worked out between buyers/sellers.

The move came from an idea sparked in a brainstorming session during the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic that has shuttered many brick and mortar retail businesses in the United States and globally. The company appears to be leveraging to advantages of ecommerce giant Shopify with their online store, payment processing and buy button option on their website. The site was built, copywritten and optimized for social media and SEO by Lawson Media & Publishing (LMP), who is a Shopify partner and operator of eSellerSocial.  The platform used to build the website was provided by Augabout Consulting with domain and hosting from Augabout Domains.

Contactless Shopping via Facebook Marketplace

The Route Relief Company has some experience delivering and merchandising on the commercial side with big box and grocery store destinations as well as Amazon and FedEx Ground package delivery help. They already offer their service to courier and moving companies and now have set their sites on ecommerce, mobile commerce and social media marketplace solutions. Craigslist and LetGo! app are also attractive target markets for the Route Relief Company in Southern Minnesota and the Twin Cities. Now many buyers and sellers on Facebook Marketplace can connect without physically connecting, mimicking the Amazon, Walmart.com or other ecommerce shopping and delivery experience but locally. As many consumers and local small businesses deal with the effects of the lockdowns, this option may be attractive, convenient and practical as well.

Payments can be made simply by visiting routerelief.company on your mobile device or computer and locating the marketplace pickup & delivery option that suits your needs, then click or tap to purchase the service. The site accepts major credit cards, BitCoin payments (equivalent to cash value in USD) via BitPay and PayPal. Facebook also makes payments between buyers and sellers easy and the Route Relief Company plans to assemble a tutorial on that aspect to help their customers quickly navigate payments between all parties and allow for more payment democratization by allowing buyers/sellers to choose who pays for shipping or agree to split the difference.

Marketplace for Brick and Mortar and Online Retail

The Route Relief Company offers its services to any buyer or seller online. However, they are considering partnering with eSellerSocial to help more brick-and-mortar businesses transition to some digital strategies for both marketing products and shipping them on a local basis using professional ecommerce, social media and delivery solutions. Businesses can use eSellerSocial to market individual products on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, LetGo! app or other social media network and have their product delivered using the Route Relief Company. The eSellerSocial resellers can act as local reps for these businesses and earn up to 75 percent commission each month for every account they manage. A local rep uses social media marketplaces to post products and customer service skills by responding to customer messages and coordinating the sale between buyer/seller. Typically the reseller need only direct online or foot traffic to the business, but the pandemic calls for new protocols.