Amazon supports rural Britain

More than 150 entrepreneurs from across “rural Britain” generated sales in excess of £500,000 each on Amazon over the past year, the internet giant has said.

The firm said that about 80 of those entrepreneurs had achieved sales in excess of £1 million via the site.

Simon Donegan, head of UK seller services at Amazon, said: “We already know the enormous extent to which rural businesses contribute to the UK economy, from ONS data and our own research commissioned from Rural England and Scotland’s Rural College.

“It is fantastic to see that rural businesses selling on Amazon are succeeding in growing their sales at this impressive scale, boosted by the power of technology.”

Some 10,000 rural businesses across the UK currently sell via the online marketplace, and since opening its sites to smaller, independent sellers nearly 20 years ago, Amazon claims to have been a growth engine for millions of small ventures around the world.

In 2000, 3 per cent of physical gross merchandise sales on Amazon came from thirdparty businesses. By 2018, this had increased to 58 per cent. About 60 per cent of UK businesses selling on Amazon now export, achieving in excess of £2 billion in exports last year, the firm added.

Naissance, a natural and organic health and beauty supplier, is one example of a rural business that has sold more than £1m of products in the course of a year on Amazon. It was recently announced as the exporting small business of the year in the inaugural UK Amazon Small Business Awards.

Jem Skelding, MD of Walesbased Naissance, said the firm now sells to customers in 90 countries, with packaging in five languages. “Digital technology has really opened doors for us as a rural retailer, allowing us to reach and serve a huge number of customers worldwide,” he added.