THE founder of an online shopping business set up to boost Saltaire trading will speak at an international conference today.

ShopAppy.com was created to give residents who live within a five-mile radius of Saltaire the chance to buy goods from their own home from a number of the village’s independent shops.

Creator Jackie Mulligan will be speaking as a panellist at the International Confex at Olympia, London, on its event technology stage for ‘Tech Disruptors – changing the way we do Business’.

International Confex is dedicated to the events industry and runs today and tomorrow.

Ms Mulligan said: “I am delighted as it gives me another opportunity for us to tell the story of how independent shops in two Yorkshire towns, Otley and Saltaire, have piloted an initiative to revitalise towns across the UK.”

ShopAppy.com users can go on the website at any time and order goods which they are then able to collect.

It was set up initially in Saltaire and also Otley by Ms Mulligan, a village resident who says she wants to offer an alternative to major supermarkets and online retailers.