The University of Illinois Alumni Association Opens a Community-Based Online Marketplace

CHAMPAIGN, Ill., Nov. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Illinois Alumni Association (UIAA) is proud to announce the launch of the Alma Market, an online marketplace exclusively featuring products made and sold by members of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign community. With the Alma Market, the University of Illinois is the first major university to provide a dedicated online platform for alumni, students and Champaign-Urbana businesses to sell their goods.

The Alma Market, which officially launched this Fall, already features 246 products from 47 vendors across a variety of categories, including apparel, art, food, home goods and more. All are welcome to shop the Alma Market, but vendor applications are limited to University of Illinois alumni, current students and Champaign-Urbana businesses. The website is built on the Shopify platform, and leverages a multi-vendor marketplace app that enables hundreds of different small businesses to add and sell their products with minimal effort.

A passion project for the Alumni Association, the Alma Market has been in development since 2021. The idea was the brainchild of UIAA President Jennifer Dillavou. "We were inspired to create the Alma Market when we saw how the pandemic affected both alumni and Champaign-Urbana businesses. We knew we had an opportunity to support small businesses while strengthening our online community," said Dillavou.

After months of development and testing, the Alma Market is now open to the general public, but the team is already looking to the future. New vendors and products are coming online each week, and planning has already begun for the next phase of development, which will bring additional product categories, features and other enhancements to the site.

"Right now, our goal is to create the best possible Alma Market experience for our University of Illinois community. But we would love for it to eventually become a platform other universities can join. I think it could grow into something very special," said Dillavou.

For more information about the Alma Market, visit almamarket.org

Founded in 1873, the University of Illinois Alumni Association is an independent, not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization, governed by a volunteer board of directors. Its purpose is to oversee services that benefit alumni engagement at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The Alumni Association's mission is to enhance and advance the relationship between the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and all its alumni; to inspire lifelong loyalty and pride among alumni and friends by strengthening their relationship with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; and to educate the public about the value of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and its alumni. For more information, visit uiaa.org

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SOURCE The University of Illinois