Amazon.com Inc. on Feb. 1 opened registration for small and medium-sized enterprises for its first U.K. Amazon Academy of 2018, an event intended to provide hands-on, practical advice to help SMEs succeed in the digital economy.
The event, which puts an emphasis on growing exports, will be held at the SEC Centre in Glasgow on April 17. Further Amazon Academy events, run in partnership with the U.K. small-business advocacy firm Enterprise Nation, are scheduled to be held in 2018 in Newcastle and Cardiff. In 2017, London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Birmingham each hosted an Amazon Academy. Participation is free.
The U.S. e-commerce giant said SMEs in the U.K. racked up £2.3 billion in export sales on its online marketplace in 2017. More than 85,000 U.K. workers were employed to run sales on the Amazon marketplace, Amazon said.
Six in 10 U.K.-based businesses selling on Amazon's portal export their products, while half of all sales are from smaller businesses, the company added.
