Yesterday, the Municipality of Olhão presented the Digital Commercial Neighborhoods project - Olhão with Soul, with a budget allocation of 1 million euros and the support of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP).
The area of operation will be in the neighbourhoods where the city's traditional commerce is located. The objective is to inform visitors and the community about traditional commerce, its promotions, new products and services and to make online sales. For the Vice-President of the Municipality, Ricardo Calé, who presented the project, "we want to help with many of the main challenges of access to our traditional commerce."
Collaborating on the project are the Algarve Region Trade and Services Association - ACRAL and the municipal companies Fesnima, Mercados de Olhão and Ambiolhão.
Ricardo Calé told Portuguese new service, Algarve Primeiro that an important area involves parking, with the help of the online platforms Bairros Comerciais Digitais - Olhão com Alma and Visit Olhão: "instead of us having to go looking for parking, these platforms will indicate where there are vacant spaces. With the digital screens that will be installed at the city entrances, we will also be directed to areas where there will be a greater number of parking spaces. At the same time, we know that digital commerce is here to stay, that it is growing and that one of the biggest difficulties for a trader in accessing digital commerce is the costs of implementing the project. In this sense, what we do is that for all participating traders, there is a free creation of the marketplace, for a new step in online shopping".
The first estimate suggests that around 300 traders will join the project. “Now we will do the work door to door, and we have an open space on Rua do Comércio to welcome traders who want to sign up,” he explained.
The coming months will be dedicated to creating content by retailers, providing training for online commerce, installing screens, as well as parking meters for charging and parking bicycles, smart lockers and parking sensor equipment. The first online sales will be possible from September 2025.
Another added value of this project is the possibility of purchasing trips online, for the sea routes from Olhão to the islands.
Photo and source https://www.algarveprimeiro.com/
