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How buying Australian-made can help the post-COVID-19 recovery
Buying Australian-made products will support local jobs and businesses, which will aid in Australia’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the founder of an online marketplace has advised.
How buying Australian-made can help the post-COVID-19 recovery
Buying Australian-made products will support local jobs and businesses, which will aid in Australia’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the founder of an online marketplace has advised.
In a conversation with nestegg, Buy Aussie Now founder Mitch Catlin explained the benefits to Australia if consumers spend domestically.
“It was a reality check for me and it took my 80-year-old mother to kind of whack me across the head and tell me. If people spend the money here, then the jobs stay here,” Mr Catlin said.
“The logical follow-on from that is the recovery from the pandemic will be hopefully faster than it otherwise would be.”
Drawing on his own personal experience of how the pandemic has had a knock-on effect, Mr Catlin believes consumers can benefit from Australian-made products.
“On Friday, 13 March, I actually lost a truckload of work. So, I was in a position like many people were, with a huge amount of insecurity and anxiety about where the next cheque was coming,” he said.
The small-business owner highlighted how buying Australian-made products is a win-win for the consumer and local businesses.
“It really was what Dick Smith put Australia on the map for, the ability to promote Australian products in terms of their quality, their price and the stories behind where they come from.”
This led Mr Catlin to launch an Instagram page as a mateship initiative to help his fellow small-business owners deal with the devastating impacts of the coronavirus crisis.
But what began as a way to connect with like-minded individuals has now grown into an online destination for Aussies to shop Australia.
Launching on Thursday, 16 July, is Mr Catlin’s Buy Aussie Now campaign – a marketplace for Australian-made goods by Australian-owned businesses.
“I think the thing that surprised me most over the past few months is just how many wonderful products are made at home but many of us simply don’t know about it. They do now! Buy Aussie Now will be the one-stop shop that Aussies can trust to buy Australian,” he said.
Buy Aussie Now chief executive Chris White thanked the businesses and shoppers who are already on the platform.
“We want shopping Australian to be a longer-term switch for this country. Let’s always make Aussies brands, business and products our first thought every time we shop and not just during difficult periods. This will support the nation, families, friends and local communities and keep jobs and investment here,” Mr White concluded.
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