- Small businesses in Wolverhampton reach £1 million sales milestone after just three months of training and support from a specialist eBay team
- Businesses have seen an average sales increase of 41% since joining the programme, which helps small retailers prosper both on and offline
- Retail Revival sellers across three cities globally have made 76,000 sales.
Online marketplace eBay today announced that businesses on its Retail Revival programme, a partnership with the City of Wolverhampton to help small retailers online, have reached £1 million in sales in just three months.
The Wolverhampton retailers have reported an average sales increase of 41% in the three-month period – bucking many of the woes faced by retailers across the country in the face of reduced consumer confidence and increased economic uncertainty. The new figures cap off a huge year for eBay’s scheme, which has seen 182 sellers take part globally, generating 76,000 sales.
The partnership between eBay and the City of Wolverhampton is running until September 2019 and sees experts from eBay provide exclusive support to small retailers who want to start up or expand their online presence, seeking to grow the local economy and demonstrate that online and high street retail can survive and thrive together.
Participants in the programme benefit from one-on-one support to create a personalised eBay shop, a comprehensive training program that covers eBay selling basics as well as digital skills such as Search Engine Optimisation and promotional support.
One business that has benefitted in Wolverhampton is Toolsave, which sells products for home and garden improvements. Founder Fred Evans, whose brother David is also enrolled on the programme, said: “Since enrolling on the Retail Revival programme, there has been a noticeable buzz around Wolverhampton. I’ve known about eBay for years, and the Retail Revival programme came at exactly the right time for my business. We have a great team at eBay who give us all the support we need and with their help, we think it’s realistic that we could double – or even triple – our turnover next year.”
Rob Hattrell, Vice President of eBay in the UK, said: “Last year was tough for retailers, but our partnership with entrepreneurs in Wolverhampton shows that British brands have a bright future. Small businesses have the creativity and entrepreneurial skill to create products needed and wanted all over the world – and eBay is helping them to sell in the way they want to online.
“I’m really proud to see the progress these businesses have made in reaching the £1 million milestone so quickly. Now is the time to empower them more – and over the course of 2019 we will work with Wolverhampton to do just that. I want the success of the West Midlands to act as a beacon to the retail sector up and down the country.”
Speaking about the sales milestone, City of Wolverhampton Council Leader, Councillor Roger Lawrence, said: “This is tremendous news for small retailers in the City of Wolverhampton.
“We very much value the presence of these small businesses and the creative local people behind them.
“These are the businesses that help give City of Wolverhampton its own identity and character and, in this challenging retail climate, they need all the support they can get.
“That is why I am delighted a global brand like eBay has recognised this talent and, through the Retail Revival programme, has helped these businesses with their digital marketing and sales skills, giving them a solid platform for sustainable growth.
“It goes to show, such skills are ever more important to business success and survival, complementing and boosting in-store, over the counter sales.”
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NOTES TO EDITORS
About Retail Revival:
Retail Revival harnesses the power of technology and eBay’s global marketplace to support and grow small businesses, strengthen local economies and foster vibrant community growth. Launched in select cities in 2018, retailers are learning from eBay how to reach new markets and attract customers from virtually anywhere in the world.
eBay is teaming up with the cities of Akron, Ohio, Lansing, Michigan, and Wolverhampton, UK, to train and empower local business owners to sell their unique inventory in a global marketplace.
About eBay:
eBay was the first online marketplace. Today, it’s a household name. A regular feature in lists of best loved brands, it connects millions of buyers and sellers, helping customers to find the item they’re looking for from its 1.1 billion listings. With 177 million buyers in 190 markets, trade is fast. The UK website sells a car part every second, and searches for must-have items, like 2017’s fidget spinner, regularly top fifty searches a second.
This incredible interest directly benefits the small businesses who trade on eBay, giving them access to an audience once unthinkable for a small shop on the high street. Throughout its history, eBay has helped many thousands of small businesses to succeed. Small British firms regularly rank in the top five grossing sellers on eBay.co.uk’s biggest trading days like Black Friday, and over one thousand British sellers who started with a shop on eBay are now running million pound businesses, providing jobs to people in their communities.
By partnering with sellers in this way, eBay.co.uk has helped hundreds of thousands of British entrepreneurs over its 23-year history. As a hub of retail in the UK, the marketplace also continues to welcome top brands to the site – including Currys, Halfords, GoPro, Canon, BooHoo and more.
eBay also makes it easy for customers to give to charitable organisations. Using eBay for Charity, sellers can donate a portion of their sales and buyers can shop while supporting their favourite causes – adding to the funds that eBay.co.uk has raised for UK charities to date.
Did you know?
eBay has 177 million active buyers around the world.
In the UK, eBay serves 24m Brits a month.