With the growing animosity towards foreign-made products, especially Chinese, over the Pandemic, the “Buy Locally” movement has taken steam. There is a lingering feeling within people that the future is uncertain: keeping their country’s economy going by buying domestically made products from local manufacturers seems to be the popular opinion. But does buying locally support the economy? From everyday commodities to machine tools, buying locally/domestically made products are a great decision. Here are six reasons supporting the claim.

1. You save more

Buying locally made products or machines, you save on paying for all the unwanted taxes, packaging, logistics expenditures that the company bears to ship the product to you. This will be cut down on when you buy a local product which means you save more by paying less for the same item but from a local manufacturer.

2. It helps the economy

Purchasing locally produced goods lets the money stay within the same country as long as the producer doesn't invest it in another country. This means better business and better taxes collected by the government. Not only this, to import items, but they also need to be better trade relations with other countries. Since trade is majorly done in USD, the value of the dollar increases with an increase in import volumes. When this can be reduced, this will strengthen the value of the rupee.

3. Better opportunities

Encouraging a local business thrive means creating more local employment opportunities. This also means that the living standard of employees who work in these companies will increase. Opportunities demand better skill thereby upskilling workers. This creates a healthier ecosystem that has a positive impact on the morale of that community. Better opportunities also mean that vendors and suppliers of that company also thrive. This is also part of the same ecosystem. When there is an ecosystem thriving, this encourages healthy competition, and the government will invest in better infrastructure and financial support to boost that industry. If the progress heads in the right direction, this will create many good opportunities through the right kind of evolution of the market.

4. Better service

Local companies use the ease of proximity to provide better support. This allows them to act faster to customer needs. This means better access to spares, accessories, repairs, upgrades and more. Even more important to note is that local/domestic manufacturers can understand customer problems better since they can afford to invest their time and energy in understanding their customer’s problems.

5. Buying local is better for the environment

The amount of pollution caused by buying imported products is huge. With local products, you save on packaging waste, fuel used for transportation. Fewer processes involved in the production and delivery of such products decrease the amount of carbon footprint each product leaves..

6. Buying local encourages innovation