SMEs international sales boosted by E-commerce platforms
Small businesses across Britain are selling goods far beyond UK shores this Christmas as the latest analysis shows many are using e-commerce platforms to boost sales.
It means many SMEs are taking tens of thousands of pounds from online buyers across Europe and the rest of the globe.
Foreign exchange specialists Currencies Direct suggest that the sale of products by SMEs via e-commerce has soared in the last three months – with overseas transfers up 150%year-on-year.
The use of small e-commerce platforms allows SMEs and sole traders to sell their goods directly to customers, allowing them to expand.
The data was based on international money transfers – sellers repatriating overseas takings – by a sample of 800 users, with the number of transfers up 47% between September and November.
This is significantly larger than the boost in sales noted for the same period in 2012 when transfers rose by 34%.
Average transfer sizes have also increased by 76% while the bulk of sales were between the UK and countries in the Eurozone – with 63.5% of sellers located in Britain.
This is great news for SMEs in Britain as increased sales figures lessen the likelihood of administration or insolvency.
One in seven international sellers on Amazon Marketplace – used in the survey – were based in China, while 2.9% were based in America and 4.3% in Germany.
Using e-commerce allows for retailers to optimise their input and output costs while differences in currency can lead to losses on some stock.
For products and stock brought in sterling and sold in Euros can create a foreign exchange exposure, especially if the product selling points are fixed.
Cutting costs by using e-commerce enables SMEs to expand their services to a wider range of people.