eBay Helping Local Businesses Grow Internationally By Online – Retail Revival Program

eBay small business support program (Retail Revival Program) newly launches in Austin, Texas; Athens, Greece; and Plovdiv, Bulgaria, to make sustainably economic opportunities in communities around the world.

eBay partners with local city leaders in regions across the globe to develop innovative small business programs that address specific retail challenges and scale solutions to profit entrepreneurs across different communities. Through programs like Retail Revival, and its international adaptations like Export Revival, local business owners receive training and coaching to sell their unique inventory on a worldwide marketplace, while strengthening ties within their local community.

Austin, Texas

In February 2020, eBay proudly launched Retail Revival in Austin, Texas, home to an upscale community of artisans, entrepreneurs and small business owners wanting to expand their reach. The Austin cohort includes 50 sellers, whose products span everything from ceramics and bicycles to sustainable fashion and gourmet candy.

Mike Petersen, general manager of the Austin office, launched the event with a warm introduction to eBay, followed by remarks from Marni Levine, eBay’s vice president of seller operations and engagement, on how eBay operates as a real partner to its sellers.

Participating sellers enjoyed a full day of coaching on pricing strategies, listing optimization and inventory management, among other important tools and techniques for building a successful eBay business. The eBay global customer experience team led training sessions, with support from members of eBay’s third-party partnerships team, and seller guests, Rocky Schiano and Angie Cardona-Nelson.

The audience also heard from Sylnovia Holt-Rabb, deputy director of economic development for the town of Austin, and Christopher Van Bergen, CFO/COO of Nest, a corporation that promotes artisans around the world and has partnered with eBay to support Retail Revival Austin through specialized outreach and training.

Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Fifty local businesses completed their training at eBay’s Export Revival program in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, at the end of 2019. Through the four-week training program, participants learned to effectively sell online through product presentation and strategic sales tactics. By the end of the training, participants had learned to make their own eBay stores, list and manage inventory, and process their first sales.

The program aims to extend Bulgaria’s exports by supporting small and medium-sized businesses to sell locally sourced goods online to global consumers. Since the launch, the Plovdiv region has seen rapid economic growth, attracting investments and establishing new businesses within the area.

These online stores are now accessible to 183 million eBay customers worldwide and meet the foremost up-to-date requirements for convenient functionality and accessibility. Sellers’ products are presented on a specially designed page, Made in Bulgaria, a destination for patrons looking to find out more about Bulgarian products and sellers. Over 8,000 products spanning women’s fashion, baby goods, auto parts, leatherwear, souvenirs, watches, and car parts are available for purchase.

The Export Revival program in Bulgaria is backed by the Ministry of Economy, the Executive Agency for Promotion of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and therefore the Municipality of Plovdiv.

If you would like to know more, Visit Made in Bulgaria to find out more about Bulgarian products and watch seller testimonials.

Athens, Greece

eBay also recently welcomed 67 Greek businesses in Athens, Greece to Export Revival, a regional spin-off of Retail Revival focused on expanding the trading reach of participants. Benefits of Export Revival include monthly training sessions taught by eBay experts, customized support, and exposure to over 183 million buyers in 190 global markets, a fanatical page on eBay.com highlighting the participants’ products and a promotional campaign on eBay.

Over 120 guests participate in the Export Revival Greece kick-off event. Sellers enjoyed introductory training and a hearth chat with Greek sellerKonstantinos Spiliadisanda. Attendees also heard from Gregoris Zarifopoulos, Greek Minister for Digital Governance; Yiannis Chatzitheodosiou, President of the Athens Chamber of Commerce; and Ilya Kretov, general manager Global Emerging Markets – Emerging Europe, LatAm, APAC at eBay, among others.

“Greece has unique products and robust export potential, as proven over time,” said Kretov. “About 12,000 sellers from Greece are already active on the eBay platform—many of them for over a decade. In 2019 alone, they traded and exported approximately 1 million items. In conjunction with eBay’s partners in Greece, they are working hard to keep these numbers thriving.”

The program is being offered under the auspices of the Ministry of Digital Policy, Telecommunications, and Media and therefore the Municipality of Athens, and is supported by ACT – Athens Chambers of Tradesman, SEV – Hellenic Federation of Enterprises.

Export Revival is a global adaptation of eBay’s global Retail Revival initiative, which has launched in over 10 cities within the U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, Ireland, Israel, and Russia, launching international sales for many companies across the world. Each participating city has seen economic growth and a rise in exports of locally produced products.