A new app created by three Long Island men centered around growing small businesses throughout the area is launching for consumers on Thanksgiving weekend.
Trellus Marketplace was created to be a one-stop shop for all local goods. Customers can order what they need and have it delivered by local small businesses as quickly as the same day. According to the website, the app allows users to search verified stores and provides a selection of quality items that can’t be found in a warehouse.
The founders are Brian Berkery, a Long Beach resident; Adam Haber, a Roslyn resident; and JR Jensen, a Merrick resident.
“For the past three years, we’ve been working with 500-plus small businesses that have used Trellus for delivery, where we just show up at checkout on their e-commerce platforms,” Jensen, the company’s Chief Technology officer, said in an interview with the Long Island Press. “Right now, we do a lot of last-mile logistics. We’ve done over 135,000 local deliveries between Suffolk, Nassau, and Westchester, where we work as the last-mile logistics partner for a small business,”
Jensen said that by offering Trellus to small businesses as a last-mile delivery company, they were able to grow their network of drivers. The company has nearly 100 vetted drivers who log in to the app daily to find deliveries. Jensen and his team are now trying to consolidate all the businesses they have worked with over the past three years and put them in one place for consumers.
“There’s a lot of very referral-based small business and community-based for small business. Just community-based businesses, you know, want to help each other,” Jensen said. According to Jensen, florists, chocolate shops, and other bakeries frequently use the app. The company is also looking to expand into retail and alcohol delivery.
While on the surface, Trellus seems like Amazon—an e-commerce delivery platform—Jensen argued that there are critical differences between the two services.
“You’re a small business. You sell cakes. Amazon finds out that you sell cakes and that’s profitable. Amazon’s going to go and create that cake and sell it cheaper and then compete against you,” Jensen said. “That’s not the business we want to be in.”
The app allows users to filter the product they want, when they want it delivered and various shops throughout Long Island that offer the product. According to Jensen, the app also has a page where you can see the business’s description, store hours, and refund policy. In addition, it allows businesses to input their preparation and delivery times for their products.
After their launch Thanksgiving weekend, Jensen has said the next goal is to expand their operation into Suffolk County, then into New York City, with the ultimate goal being to transform Trellus into a national product.
