Amazon has launched its Small Business Accelerator in the UK, offering businesses free online training programs and a range of benefits, including discounts and credits. With this move Amazon aims to help over 200,000 small UK businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic by accelerating their transition online.
As the COVID-19 outbreak presents serious challenges for small businesses globally, Amazon has taken to supporting vendors, launching a variety of initiatives via Fulfillment by Amazon, Amazon Launchpad, Amazon Pay and AWS. In India for example, Amazon will also host Small Business Day sales events this month, connecting consumers with micro, small and medium businesses.
With the shift to online accelerating, services helping smaller businesses to develop their online capabilities are gaining traction. Shopify, a rapidly growing platform that helps businesses set up and operate online stores, has recently partnered with Walmart to allow around 1,200 sellers to sell on the retailer’s marketplace via their Shopify accounts. While Facebook has launched a training program encouraging French SMEs to sell online. As competition increases between key online players, smaller suppliers and brands may expect more digital capability building initiatives to come, opening up new routes to consumers.
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