Cooper Project start-up, Mazen, has set his sights on national expansion for his businesses ‘3Miles’ following an increase in demand for his online shopping service during lockdown.

Formerly known as ‘Ready Mart’, 3Miles is described by the founding team as an “online market for local, independent stores in Sheffield.” The app enables users to order their local products from independently owned shops within the local area and have it delivered to their doorstep. The 3Miles founding team; Mazen, Fran and Sergio have been supported to develop the business idea through the Cooper Project business incubation programme at Sheffield Technology Parks.

3Miles aim has always been to support local shops who may not have the capabilities or funds to set up their own online services and help them to thrive within the community. Now more than ever, 3Miles is delighted to be helping independent retailers who typically rely on passing trade. 3Miles has also recruited 10 self-employed drivers to help with delivery. Mazen said, “We’re happy that we can help people during these uncertain times and support local independent businesses – this has been our goal from the beginning, not just since lockdown.”

Since the end of March, when lockdown was announced, 3Miles has attracted an average of 500 new customers per week as the demand for home delivery has increased. This is a significant increase from the 3-4 orders the business would secure when Mazen first started trading. 3Miles now also has over 2,000 registered users and 2,000 downloads of the app. Mazen said, “The demand for online grocery shopping has risen dramatically as more people switch their weekly shop from the supermarket to home delivery services.”

3Miles is currently made up of a team of nine which is set to increase as Mazen looks to roll out the business across Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and Liverpool by the end of 2020. He said, “We are setting our sights on securing in excess of 50,000 orders per week as we roll the business concept out across the UK.”

Visit their website and follow 3Miles on twitter.