Amazon have recently sponsored the Social Market Foundation’s (SMF) independently produced report, Just a Click Away, which shows that there are “significant” economic gains to be made for the UK by helping more firms to generate export sales through ecommerce.
Ecommerce gives even the smallest business the scope to sell to new customers in other countries, Our modelling shows that policies helping more British firms to conduct e-commerce exports could deliver a real boost to the economy and jobs.
– Richard Hyde, senior researcher, the SMF
The research showed that while merchandise exports across other advanced economies are up 3.5% since the end of 2019, the UK’s have fallen by 21%. SMF modelling shows the potential gains for UK businesses, employment and GDP could see as many as 70,000 more SMEs exporting, with their turnover rising by £12.4 billion, resulting in an economic gain of £9.3 billion and supporting an additional 152,000 jobs.
More than 85,000 UK small and medium sized businesses sell on Amazon, of which more than more than half already export overseas. While these small businesses generated more than £3 billion in export sales in 2021, overall exports declined from £3.5 billion in 2020, partly as a result of the pandemic and increased administration for cross-border sellers and customers following Brexit. However, exports beyond the EU are growing amongst SMEs selling on Amazon, up 15% from 2020.
Amazon encourages small businesses to look at export opportunities in the EU and around the world and provides a range of products and services to support them, including a Global Selling programme, which allows UK businesses to list and sell products on any of Amazon’s 21 stores including the USA, Australia, and Japan, with access to over 200 million Prime account holders. Meanwhile, Amazon’s European Fulfilment Network, which lets sellers transfer stock across Europe, already helps tens of thousands of SMEs to sell between the UK and EU.
