For independent businesses, markets and food hubs
Independent businesses should not disappear simply because they cannot spend like the chains.
Understead is being built to make local businesses easier to find, follow and buy from, while keeping the relationship between you and your customers open.
Start with a useful business page for free. Keep your own website, phone, booking and contact routes visible. If you choose to sell through Understead, we take 0% sales commission. Markets and food hubs are free forever.
Already on Understead? Do not create another page. Find and claim your business
Want the full picture first? What your business gets on Understead
Chains have buying power, marketing teams, national logistics and prime digital visibility. Global marketplaces add reach and convenience at a scale most independent businesses cannot reproduce.
Meanwhile, something genuinely good may be ten minutes away and still be harder to find than something shipped halfway across the country.
That is the gap Understead is trying to close. We cannot give a small business the economies of scale of a multinational. We can give local people a much better way to see what exists nearby, follow it, buy from it and come back.
The same town page that carries local businesses also carries what is on, groups and markets, free. That is deliberate: a town that uses its page for everyday local life is a town that keeps finding its independent businesses. We promise the reasons to visit, never the visitor numbers.
A useful business page starts at £0. Paying is not required merely to have a meaningful local presence.
Website, phone, booking, enquiry and contact routes stay open. Understead is not trying to force every relationship through the platform.
Residents can follow the business through Understead and hear when there is something worth knowing.
Local relevance comes first. Paid plans add capabilities; they do not manufacture relevance.
Businesses
Whether you make products, run a shop, grow food, bake, teach classes, run workshops or do several of those things at once, Understead gives the business one local identity people can find, follow and return to.
Free, £0
A free page isn't a teaser designed to become useless until you pay.
If that's all you need from Understead, that's fine.
Optional: Shop
Shop: 6 months free, then £5/month
Optional: Trade
Trade: 6 months free, then £12/month
| Feature | Free£0 | Shop£5/month6 months free | Trade£12/month6 months free | Markets / Hubs£0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public page, found locally | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Address, phone and opening hours | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Links to your website and socials | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Follow and useful updates | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Customer reviews | Included | Included | Included | Not included |
| Delivery and collection info | Included | Included | Included | Not included |
| Sell on your page, 0% commission | Not included | Included (20 products) | Included (unlimited) | Not included |
| Orders, earnings and store stats | Not included | Included | Included | Not included |
| Customer enquiries and product questions | Not included | Included | Included | Not included |
| Wholesale, trade terms and supply requests | Not included | Not included | Included | Not included |
Trade is for goods and hybrid businesses. If you only run classes or experiences, Free and Shop are your plans; Trade does not apply.
Local relevance comes first. Paying never makes an irrelevant business relevant.
Where several businesses already genuinely match a commercial search, plan level may affect their order.
It never affects what's on, community groups, markets or Hearabouts editorial selection.
Markets and food hubs
Free forever.
Social posts disappear down feeds. Posters get missed. Event pages expire. Your market needs one dependable local page where people can see when you are on, where to go, who is trading and what they can find there.
List your stallholders and link directly to them. Traders listed on Understead can also show that they trade at your market on their own profiles, creating a two-way connection between the market and the businesses that make it worth visiting.
Add your dates, place and trader information. Post market updates and stallholder news. Let people follow the market so they can hear when a date changes or something new is happening.
Your market helps traders get found. Your traders help people find the market.
Understead keeps markets and food hubs free forever because they are part of the infrastructure that helps independent local businesses survive and local economies work.
A food hub gets the same permanent page: place, collection and how the hub works, in your own words. Ordering happens through your own routes.
The easier local is to find and use, the better chance independent businesses have of keeping local money moving locally.