A NEW website dedicated to getting Otley residents shopping closer to home has been launched.

Shopappy.com is intended to provide an alternative to supermarkets and online retailers by allowing customers to browse and buy local products online.

Customers who use the site can choose to either 'click and collect' from local shops or by visiting The Otley Tavern, which will be acting as the collection hub for Shopappy.com in Otley.

The new site is the brainchild of Jackie Mulligan, a 'shop local' fan from Saltaire who has chosen Otley as one of the two flagship Yorkshire towns in which to launch her idea.

She said: "Launching the business in such a vibrant town with so much independent character has been a real pleasure.

"The shops are excellent and I have met some wonderful shopkeepers here.

"Shopappy.com will help them compete against the online giants as well as the bigger retail chains at Christmas, a time when independents often lose out.

"I have focused on the fact that shopping local makes us happier and makes for happier towns.

"That’s why I called it Shopappy – it is the feeling customers get when they buy something nice and know that they also spent their money close to home and supported a local business or, more likely, a local family."

"Otley BID have been a great help and have been very enthused to get involved.

"They have also persuaded me to give all the Otley shops a free trial on the site until February, 2017."

One of the first adopters to put her products on Shopappy, Jeanne Trutch of Otley business Silk Sisters, said: “This has the potential to be a great asset for Otley, helping us all to be more easily found by our local residents who sometimes simply do not have time to get into town.

"The site does not take any commissions so it ensures that every penny customers spend comes to their local shops."

Otley Town Councillor Peter Jackson (Lib Dem, Ashfield), the landlord of The Otley Tavern, added: "We need to help independents compete and I am happy for my pub to be able to offer the 'click and collect' service.

"Pubs are community hubs, we open late so we can offer convenience.

"I feel this is something we all should support."

Shopappy.com will be available to any towns across Yorkshire and beyond from January, 2017 after the piloting phase - involving Otley and Saltaire - has been completed.