eBay he adopts L'Aquila and together with Confcommercio launches an initiative to rebuild commerce in L'Aquila. The largest online marketplace in Italy wants to help SMEs from L'Aquila to relaunch their business and encourage their digitalization. The economic context of L'Aquila, in fact, still suffers: 236 businesses in the commerce sector in L'Aquila closed their doors last year, while companies that have chosen to combine eCommerce with their traditional business are recording a continuously growing trend.
Starting from a strong bond with the L'Aquila area, where eBay is Confcommercio have launched a training course on eCommerce for local entrepreneurs, the initiative is now online with a space dedicated to the city of L'Aquila (http://www.ebay.it/laquila), which intends to offer visibility to the products of L'Aquila SMEs and tell the stories of local entrepreneurs. Furthermore, citizens of L'Aquila will be able to order local SME products online and then pick them up at the physical point of sale or receive them directly at home.
There are still few online SMEs in L'Aquila and eBay's internal data show that in theeCommerce there is an opportunity to relaunch: in the six years after the earthquake (2010-2015), the turnover of L'Aquila SMEs on eBay grew by +435% compared to the previous six years. Among the best-selling categories we find fashion, home and furnishings and spare parts and accessories. Furthermore, 2015 saw a real export boom by companies from L'Aquila: +464% compared to 2014.
“Today, eBay adopts the Eagle, providing SMEs and buyers with a platform capable of rebuilding local commerce and offering growth opportunities globally. eBay strongly believes that online does not replace, but complements traditional commerce, freeing up the potential of Italian SMEs and offering them a global market. After a pilot project that we launched in Germany, in Moenchengladbach, this is the first initiative of its kind in Italy and we are delighted to have chosen L'Aquila, a community that with its entrepreneurial strength and desire to do can only benefit from the 'have alongside the leader of online commerce in Italy - eBay - to support traditional commerce. Our data show that, after the tragic earthquake of 2009, the entrepreneurs from L'Aquila who operate on our marketplace have achieved surprising results. However, much remains to be done in the diffusion of eCommerce, this is the great opportunity for the SMEs of L'Aquila. For this reason, together with an important partner rooted in the territory such as Confcommercio, we have decided to undertake this initiative for L'Aquila", said Claudio Raimondi, General Manager of eBay in Italy.
The initiative was born as part of the partnership launched last October by eBay and Confcommercio, which is also developing through a roadshow for Italy to train SMEs and support their digitalisation.
“L'Aquila is a particularly significant appointment for Confcommercio, it is a symbol of the desire for rebirth, of the still pulsating vitality of this area, of how today, a conscious and professional use of new technologies and the web can really make a difference, both in terms of competitiveness and business, for companies in L'Aquila. With this initiative, specific to L'Aquila, Confcommercio and eBay wanted to dedicate a training-information course on online sales techniques and strategies to companies in this area, to integrate the offline market with the online one and overcome the objective difficulties of the physical space. The enthusiasm with which the SMEs of L'Aquila have welcomed this initiative, which is both an opportunity and a challenge, is a measure of their courage and strength. Confcommercio will continue to support and support this territory and these entrepreneurs in the path of recovery, growth and development”, he declared Alessandro Micheli, the President of the Young Entrepreneurs.
The initiative will be presented to the local institutions of L'Aquila during a press conference on Friday 8 April at Palazzo Fibbioni in L'Aquila.
