While local merchants are hard hit by the coronavirus crisis, several solidarity initiatives offer consumers to order vouchers that can be used after confinement.

They were hit hard by the coronavirus crisis. Everywhere in France, small traders have seen their attendance drop due to confinement or have had to close shop, and look at the future with anguish, between a fall in turnover to come and fear of the loss of contact with their customers. Aware of these difficulties, many entrepreneurs have been implementing solidarity initiatives for the past two weeks to enable confined people to continue to support their local businesses financially, in particular through voucher systems. Wednesday, on Europe 1, the teams of La France bouge will presented four of them.

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Support-traders-artisans.fr

Created by Jonathan Chelet and the teams of the "Small shops" site, which maps local shops everywhere in France to give them visibility, the support-commercants-artisans.fr site offers consumers to buy vouchers online. '' purchase of 20, 50 or 100 euros for the shops of their choice (among those listed on the site). "These vouchers can be used from the end of confinement and the opening of shops, and until December 31, 2020," says Jonathan Chelet.

On the site, the search can be done by city, or by typing directly the name of the trade concerned, and the purchase order is sent by email after payment. It is also possible to leave a note of support for the chosen merchant.

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"For the consumer, it is an advance of money, a gesture of solidarity", continues Jonathan Chelet, while for the merchant supported, "it can make a big difference, because he will maintain contact with his customers, stay positive , while receiving cash. " Indeed, each week, the amount of vouchers ordered on the site is donated to the businesses supported. And the initiative is currently successful. According to its co-founder, 150,000 euros of orders were placed in 15 days.

Savenoscommerces.org

The site is to be officially launched on Thursday. With his wife, Mathieu Maure, marketing director at Uber Eats, founded the Sauvonsnoscommerces.org initiative, with the aim of helping merchants during the crisis. "They give us so much on a daily basis that we want to give them back," he explains on Europe 1.

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"In this war against the coronavirus, we, the individuals, constitute the third line", estimates this entrepreneur, after the first two formed by the caregivers, then the companies and the State, "and we want to put our digital expertise at the service traders". For the time being, several dozen traders are registered on the site, and dozens of voucher transactions have already taken place. These vouchers are valid until June 30, 2021. "We wanted this not to be a constraint for consumers, to have to use them in a reduced period", specifies Mathieu Maure. Again, the merchant will receive the money directly into his account.

Sauvetoncommerce.fr

Erwan Simon set up the sauvetoncommerce.fr platform. Solidarity vouchers, valid at the reopening of businesses supported, range from 10 to 400 euros. "This allows merchants to collect cash and prepare for the economic recovery," said the entrepreneur. 300 traders of all kinds have already joined the platform.

Created in three days, the site received support from the government, the Ministry of the Economy having selected it as one of the solutions to end the crisis for the economic sector, while sponsors and town halls also support the initiative. Thus, the town hall of Lagny-sur-Marne has, for example, decided to bear the bank commission fees for the merchants of its town.

Coursescontrelamontre.fr

On the strength of its local presence, the Sud-Ouest press group launched, in partnership with the French Federation of Merchants of France and several chambers of commerce, a united "marketplace": "Races against the clock". If consumers can, again, get vouchers, offers "in the form of products to deliver or pick up at the end of confinement" are also available, details Christophe Galichon, editorial director of the regional daily .

Nearly 400 offers are available online, with 20% from farmers and 80% from traditional shops, according to the initiative's teams.