Bolton's small business export goods worth over £12million through Amazon

The 2021 Amazon UK SME Impact report revealed that more than 400 small and mid-size enterprises in the borough exported products last year, selling on Amazon.

Valued at more than £12million, this was an increase of 66per cent from 2019.

Across the UK small and mid-size businesses selling on Amazon have created 175,000 jobs and have recorded over £3.5billion in export sales in 2020.

During the pandemic many businesses went online for the first time in order to adapt.

Over 14,000 UK SMEs selling on Amazon surpassed £100,000 in sales, and over 1,000 reached £1 million in sales for the first time in 2020.

The top five categories from which customers purchased products sold by SMEs were Home, Health & Personal Care, Toys, Apparel and Beauty.

In the North West there are now over 8,500 SME selling partners, who together exceeded £450 million in export sales last year.

Nicolas Verdon, General Manager at Amazon in Bolton said: “Bolton is home to many successful SMEs and entrepreneurs, and we are proud to support their growth through the Amazon seller and export programmes.

“It’s great to see local SMEs exporting their products to customers around the world and we’re excited to help these businesses continue to grow, create jobs and increase sales.”

John Boumphrey, UK Country Manager Amazon said: “2020 was a challenging year for many small businesses, and we’ve continued to provide business owners, start-ups and entrepreneurs with the tools and opportunities they need to succeed.

“Our latest report shows even more small and medium-sized businesses growing on Amazon stores, with a thousand new British businesses reaching £1 million on Amazon stores in sales last year for the first time.”

Graham Stuart MP, Minister for Exports, said: “Exporting companies are more resilient, productive and pay higher wages than their peers.

“So it is great to see UK businesses joining Amazon’s marketplace and accessing new customers internationally.”