What does SalisburyShopRun do?

SalisburyShopRun is a local food delivery marketplace built to give vendors in Salisbury a better deal than national food booking platforms. Founded by Barry James as a two-person design team, the marketplace lets local food vendors manage their own storefronts and products while SalisburyShopRun handles the platform, delivery logistics, and customer experience.

The problem

Barry knew he wanted to build a multi-vendor marketplace but didn't have the technical skillset to make it work. He tried several marketplace apps on Shopify and none gave vendors the level of control he needed. The biggest pain point was onboarding. With other platforms, Barry had to manually create hundreds of products on behalf of each vendor, sitting at his desk recreating listings instead of being in stores working with vendors directly.

He also needed to integrate with Shipday for delivery logistics, a connection that no marketplace app offered natively.

Why PuppetVendors?

Barry evaluated multiple Shopify marketplace apps. PuppetVendors cost more than some alternatives, but the level of vendor control and the team's willingness to build custom solutions set it apart. The integration options and hands-on support were what sealed the decision.

PuppetVendors allowed vendors to take full control of their own storefronts inside the marketplace. Instead of Barry recreating products at his desk, he could walk into a vendor's store, sit with them, and guide them through onboarding on the vendor portal in person. Vendors managed their own products, banners, and logos.

How they implemented it

The implementation took approximately six months, though Barry notes it could have been much faster. He was learning the business while building it. Key milestones:

1. Set up the vendor portal as the introduction point for new vendors

2. Worked with the PuppetVendors team to create a custom Zapier integration connecting PuppetVendors to Shipday for delivery management

3. Tested and expanded the Zap as new requirements emerged

4. Onboarded vendors in-person using the vendor portal

The PuppetVendors team built the custom Shipday integration in approximately four weeks, including iterations as Barry added new requirements. When Barry accidentally broke the integration, the team fixed it without charging extra.

Results

• Days of manual work eliminated per week through vendor self-service

• Fixed monthly costs (website fees + PV fees) enabling uncapped scalability

• Vendors fully manage their own storefronts, products, and content

• Custom delivery integration with Shipday working end-to-end

• Revenue stream launching after months of pre-launch development

His advice to others

Do it. They are my #1 choice for MVM stores. The help is second to none. The upgrades come thick and fast. If you have a feature request they respond and usually make it happen. Just an amazing product with an amazing team.