FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LEXINGTON, KY (December 21, 2020) — Small businesses in Kentucky now have an easy and inexpensive way to sell their products online, thanks to a new Community Ventures initiative called Opllo (www.opllo.com).
“Opllo, short for Operation Local, is a ‘beta’ eCommerce platform that will help local retailers reach a broader customer base. Opllo helps these business owners by allowing them to bypass the usual cost and technical burdens needed for eCommerce. Businesses can simply go to opllo.com, sign up for free, and begin listing products. It’s that simple,” says Lowell Sellards, Director of eCommerce for Community Ventures.
“We want to bring the concept and convenience of shopping local to your living room. However, before we can provide the full shopping experience, we are going to onboard vendors across Kentucky over the next several months to build out the purchasing options for customers. We’re asking small businesses to join this initiative starting today,” Sellards adds.
“Through the shared vision and generosity of our funder partners, we designed Opllo to be accessible to every business,” says Sellards. “We are grateful for their support. To date, Opllo has received funding from: Appalachian Community Capital through the Appalachian Regional Commission, NeighborWorks America, the U. S. Small Business Administration through the Program for Investment in Microentrepreneurs (PRIME) and Old National Bank, the website’s founding partner.
Opllo is now in its beta phase and will continue the sign-up process through 2021. Small business retailers are encouraged to “set up shop” with the program immediately. Signing up for Opllo is free during the beta phase. Businesses may apply online at www.opllo.com.
To make this program even more accessible to a wide variety of businesses, Community Ventures is providing full wraparound technical assistance to business owners around the initiative, whether they only need help signing up or creating their full online sales strategy. To learn more, contact Lowell Sellards at opllo@cvky.org.
For the latest updates on Opllo, follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @shopopllo.
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About Community Ventures
Founded in 1982, Community Ventures is a community-based, non-profit organization that exists to improve the quality of life for urban and rural residents throughout Kentucky. CV helps people increase income and build assets with three main strategies: small business ownership, home ownership, and job creation through business expansion. CV is headquartered in Lexington with branch offices in Campbellsville, Frankfort, Louisville, Paris and Owensboro.
About Opllo
Opllo is an eCommerce website created by Community Ventures, designed specifically for small businesses to reach a new, broader audience of customers through online sales while bypassing the usual cost and technical burdens needed for eCommerce. The website will be a destination for customers to shop and support an aggregate of local businesses within a given geographic area.
