How do VSE/SME managers view digital?
Online trading has become a growth accelerator and VSE/SME managers are not wrong. According to the France Num 2021 barometer, 78% believe that digital contributes to the growth of their business. Online trading is complementary to physical trading and supports the general development of VSEs/SMEs. Those who have a commercial premises see an average growth in their physical billing of 14%. Digital is therefore an additional string to your bow.
You just published a report1 on the small and medium-sized structures that benefit from its services. How did they perform in 2021?
French VSEs/SMEs selling on Amazon had an unprecedented year in 2021. One figure: they sold more than 85 million products (ie 150 per minute) in 2021. This is an increase of 50% compared to 2020. We allow them to expand their area of influence both nationally and in Europe, through our online stores in Germany, Spain and Italy, for example.
Does this mean that exports play an important role in these good results?
70% of French small and medium-sized companies selling on Amazon recorded export sales in 2021, with a total of €600 million generated. This is an increase of 40% compared to 2020. By trusting the Amazon marketplace, they can, for example, use the “Fulfilled by Amazon” program. In short, with this service you sell and we ship through our distribution network. With this service, business users store their products in Amazon fulfillment centers and we pick, pack, ship, and provide customer service for those products. This allows them to focus on their core business, the product. In total, through Amazon, VSEs/SMBs can reach customers in more than 200 countries and territories.
What are the repercussions in terms of employment?
To support their online business, VSEs/SMEs selling on Amazon have created 35,000 jobs.
What to do for these SMEs, which are still many, that are not capable of making the leap to digital?
Still according to figures from France Num, only 20% of SMEs have their own business site. Therefore, there is a real gap between the awareness of the importance of digital by small business leaders (as indicated at the beginning of our interview) and the realization of their digitalization project. Today, one in four heads of SMEs do not know how to start the digital transformation of their structure.
What concrete solutions are then available to them?
It is from this particular observation that Digital Accelerator, a digital training program that Amazon launched two years ago, was born. We provide VSE/SMEs free of charge with training modules covering all aspects of e-commerce: digital marketing, logistics, marketing strategy, etc. There are a total of 12 topics, for a total of 120 training modules. Furthermore, in addition to these formats, we organize bootcamps and have started coaching sessions. The objective is to make SMEs autonomous, capable of doing things, providing them with a toolbox, combining theory and practice. More than 20,000 SMEs have already joined the program.
1 Amazon “SME Report 2022”
This content was produced with SCRIBEO. The BFMBUSINESS editorial team was not involved in the production of this content.
Source: BFM TV
