Today in Global Small Business: European Union (EU) Small Business Export Report (eBay)

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• eBay publishes a new report on European Union (EU) small business exporting.  Direct access to report can be found here.
• How weather and other factors are impacting fruit exports from Peru.
• Quote of the week: “When I returned to the United States after three years of World War II service, my total assets consisted of one wife, one small daughter, $276 in the bank, and an idea. The idea was for an export business to supply items badly needed everywhere in Europe." – E. Joseph Cossman
• Every G20 economy's top export market.
• Amid the global green goods boom, India is yet to jump on the bandwagon.
• Innovation linked to international exports for both rural and urban firms.

Global Small Business Owners: Secure Your Future into 2021 and Beyond with a Grant from eBay and Hello Alice

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Starting November 23, 2020, eBay, in partnership with Hello Alice, is giving back to the global small businesses that power America and is awarding more than $500,000 in grants and education resources to help small businesses stay up and running online and secure their future into 2021 and beyond.  The program is called Up & Running. 

Learn more here.  Program closes December 11, 2020 at midnight ET.

More Than Words Is An eBay Small Business Award Winner!

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Taking the top spot on eBay's Shine Awards for Small Business was Jodi Rosenbaum of More Than Words, who was named Small Business of the Year.

Jodi Rosenbaum founded More Than Words (MTW) in 2004 with a vision to provide at-risk young people the training needed to run a successful business. As a nonprofit social enterprise, MTW empowers nearly 400 Boston-area young people, ages 16-24, who are in the foster care system, court-involved, out-of-school or homeless to take charge of their lives by taking charge of a business.

Learn more about Jodi, More Than Words (MTW), and the other award winners.  Congrats to Jodi!

Today in Global Small Business: Show Respect and Do Business Across Borders

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Just the fear of a trade war is straining the global economy.
• Join the next WEGGinar™ on 7/11 to learn how to harness cloud computing and at the same time find out key growth lessons from more than 50 startup owners using cloud computing.  It's free of charge and you can register here. 
• How to show respect and do business across borders.
• The Trump trade war effect on certain US cities.
• eBay go global platform attracts a lot of Malaysian businesses.
• Don't be vulnerable to big companies -- learn to scale.

Small Town Businesses Get a Global Presence

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According to the report (PDF) "Platform-Enabled Small Business Formation as a Counterweight Against Forces of Economic Concentration" from the eBay Policy Lab, online marketplaces give small businesses and entrepreneurs access to outside economies in these rural areas. This is driving growth in counties across the country which are not experiencing the same amount of expansion as in the coastal or more popular regions. -- Source:  Small Business Trends

We [eBay] have studied the patterns and growth of enterprises using the eBay Marketplace. Irrespective of where in the world we have looked, we have found micro and small businesses leveraging the online commerce platform model to engage in expansive commerce, often on a global scale. Across more than 50 countries we have studied so far, spanning the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe, technology is empowering small firms to build operations that serve consumers across an unprecedented number of countries.

Learn more about how eBay is giving small town businesses a global presence.

Enabler of Global Reach

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How do you shine online to survive or thrive in the global marketplace?  You take it to either Amazon or eBay.

As one business owner puts it about eBay:

Selling on the eBay platform is a natural complement to your small business, your brick-and-mortar store. And it's an enabler of global reach. And so immediately, you go from being just, you know, a store maybe based in Akron [Ohio] to a store that people can see anywhere around the world.

As national public radio station WKSU reports, the eBay Retail Revival is a new project designed to help give local brick-and-mortar businesses, like the Akron, Ohio-based business owner, a global boost and eBay a new way to take on Amazon.

Read more about how eBay trains Ohio retailers to take on the world.

The Beginning of a New Global Trading System

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China has more than a billion people and is tapping into markets such as India and Africa -- capturing markets that account for more like three to four billion users, in places with fast emerging middle classes.

"If you are banker and you are in transaction banking, you are foolish if you think in five years' time the majority of your customers' transactions will be conventional supply chain transactions, or conventional trade transactions. They and a growing host of new businesses, often global SMEs, will be trading through platforms like Alibaba. So the banking side of the business will gravitate towards Alibaba, and there may be one or two other platforms competing alongside them."

For example, if we are leaning toward a platform-based global commerce economy, what about Google, Facebook, eBay and Amazon?  Don't underestimate their capabilities.

Read more:  Alibaba advances:  How China is using fin tech to take control of global trade

Small Digital Businesses Tap Into Global Trade Routes

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When it comes to the UK marketplace, eBay says that its Small Business Exports Index shows that of the 200,000 small digital UK firms trading:

• "93% fulfilled overseas sales in 2015, with each exporting to an average of 20 different territories
• This compares to just 28% of businesses without an online presence
• These British online businesses have an annual growth rate of 12%."

Small digital businesses are keen to tap into global trade routes for growth.

The top five most popular destinations for British exports via eBay are:

1. United States
2. Australia
3. Germany
4. France
5. Italy

In the article below, Kit Glover, Director of Professional Selling & Cross Border Trade at eBay, offers top tips for UK small online retailers exporting overseas.  Check them

out.

Digital businesses vital in quest to it trade targets, says eBay

How to Leverage Online E-Commerce Marketplaces to Grow Global

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The secret to billions of customers finding you is to build a world stage comprising of a combination of social tools such as a blog (like this one), Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, as well as cultivate a brand presence on a website, mobile apps and other online databases.

Using a proven e-commerce platform such as Amazon, eBay or Etsy is beneficial too, provided its visitors are in line with your ideal target market.  Just remember that each of these platforms takes a percentage of the transaction profits and, in some cases, they even charge a monthly subscription fee. I always caution people to read the fine print when it comes to your costs.

After you test your products in new online marketplaces and enjoy significant revenue returns, it is then time to advance and create your own ecommerce platform to sell to the world and pocket all the profits. -- Source:  Business Success Strategies Q&A with Laurel Delaney: Going Global for Business Growth

For more information on using online e-commerce marketplaces as a stepping stone to taking your business global, visit:  The Top 5 Online Marketplaces for Small Businesses Looking to Expand Internationally

The First 90 Days for Wenig at eBay

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Today will mark Devin Wenig’s second official business day as CEO of a now PayPal-less eBay, beginning a new, challenging chapter for the 20 year-old flea market turned shopping mall.  Wenig had been with Thomson Reuters since 2011, after spending 18 years at the business news giant.

After accepting now former eBay CEO's John Donahoe’s offer four years ago and learning the ropes as a sort of understudy to Donahoe, Wenig is now his own boss.

In the next 88 days, Wenig needs to show investors that without PayPal, its core marketplace business is still thriving by providing value for both buyers and sellers.

Read the entire article:  For eBay, a new chapter begins

The Impact of Globalization and Technology on Small Business Commerce Worldwide

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The eBay 2015 US Small Business Global Growth Report focuses on the United States, looking at how SMBs from across the US have embraced technology to grow their businesses globally.

Worth a read for those who want access to customers all over the world.

As Devin Wenig, President of global eBay Marketplaces business unit says:

The impact of our technology on small business is great, and that excites me. In fact, our data shows that more than 90 percent of U.S. small businesses on our platform export. And of those exporters, 190,000 are exporting to four continents or more. Compare that to overall small business trade activity, where less than five percent of businesses export, according to U.S. Census data. Talk about creating economic opportunity.

Third-Party (3PL) Internet Platforms Offer Stepping Stones to Export Success

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Third-party (3PL) Internet platforms such as Amazon, eBay, Rakuten, Etsy and CafePress all offer stepping stones to export success provided its visitors are in line with your ideal target market. They are easy to use, have a global reach, and can help you sell more goods worldwide at a profit.  These platforms also allow you to test the salability of your product on someone else's proven successful infrastructure before making a substantial investment to set up an e-commerce site from scratch.

In "Amazon Helps Mom-And-Pop Store in Barcelona Reach Global Village," the reporter talks about how small businesses in Spain use web-based platforms to escape domestic slumps or to drive additional growth to their existing business.

According to Javier Alvira, head of [Amazon's] the country's third-party operations in Spain:

"Spain is the fastest-growing market for the Amazon logistics service which handles deliveries for retailers"

Pictured:  Barcelona port

Today in Global Small Business: eBay Shuts Down Small-Business E-Commerce Software Products

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Stuck on how to craft an export business plan?  Look no further at the LEBP.
• Even large deals support small businesses through Ex-Im Bank financing.
• How do we get globalization right?
• Why eBay is shutting down small-business e-commerce software products.
• Why Google+ dropped profile photos.
• Don't know too much about Alibaba?  Here's a short course.

eBay Boosts Exports for 90,000 British Businesses

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eBay is on a mission to help 90,000 UK retailers and suppliers trade internationally.

To boost exports, eBay plans to create shops on overseas eBay sites allowing British businesses to hopefully, sell to millions more shoppers across Europe.

The site has translation tools to breakdown language barriers and paired with the global payment system, Paypal, will help UK retailers trade in different currencies. 

Read the entire article:  eBay to export 90,000 British businesses

Note:  Mountain Warehouse, an outdoor pursuits retailers, claims to have used eBay's network successfully.

The World In Your Pocket

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The Roadmap below, published by eBay, sets out to unlock the opportunities presented by a new technology-enabled and consumer-driven global commerce that eBay calls Commerce 3.0.  With this Roadmap, eBay proposes:

...intelligently marrying technology tools with policy action in order to deliver sustainable growth on a global scale.

Read (immediate download of a 42-page PDF file):  Towards Commerce 3.0:  Roadmap for Building Sustainable Growth into Commerce

Nicholas Staheyeff, Vice President CEO eBay International AG, said, “Boosting cross-border trade and helping Europe’s entrepreneurs big and small grow their business on- and offline are essential to work our way out of the current crisis. (3/27/12)

Linda Lightman Sells Globally

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Linda Lightman, CEO of Linda's Stuff, sells globally.  She turned a hobby into a successful business, now employing over sixty workers in multiple departments.

Linda, a former attorney who left her career to build a successful business selling clothing and jewelry on eBay, is now one of eBay’s top fashion sellers.  The venture began as a hobby, selling her son’s video games on eBay over ten years ago, and after learning the ropes, she started selling her own designer clothes. Other people started asking Linda to sell their unwanted garments and jewelry, and the venture developed into an entrepreneurship and a highly successful business.

Somehow Linda knew when it was right to begin selling globally and did her homework so she could handle it without losing her designer shirt.  You can too.

Visit Linda's site here.

eBay: Fight For Growth in Asia Is Just Beginning

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Will eBay make it in China?

The company argues that what matters is making money, and that it is building a much more viable business by exploiting its lead in the global market.

Is that all that matters in terms of running a global business: making money?

Well eBay plans to focus on that and reinventing its China business by helping local companies sell to consumers overseas.

Read the entire article here.

2008 National Small Business Summit

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NFIB and eBay are putting on an important small business conferences in Washington, D.C. from June 8-11. This is one you don’t want to miss, especially if you want to connect with like-minded small business folks.

For more about what to expect over the three-day conference and to register, visit here. All events take place at the Grand Hyatt unless otherwise indicated.

P.S. Not sure about a global focus here ... I imagine Meg Whitman, former president and CEO eBay, Inc., will talk about eBay's growth outside the U.S. and how small business users are driving that growth.