eBay & Singapore Institute of Retail Studies deliver e-commerce training to SMEs

• ‘Let’s eBay with SIRS’ to help aspiring entrepreneurs kickstart their business
• e-Commerce seen as key growth opportunity by Enterprise Singapore for retail sector

EBAY and the Singapore Institute of Retail Studies (SIRS) recently joined forces to deliver training to small businesses and entrepreneurs seeking new and global sales channels in the fast-growing e-commerce sector. The full-day workshop, “Let’s eBay with SIRS”, was held at the Lifelong Learning Institute, one of two Continuing Education and Training (CET) campuses by SkillsFuture Singapore.

With the goal to offer SMEs in Singapore a holistic support system to grow their businesses globally and sustainably, both parties also signed a memorandum of understanding  focused on Global e-Commerce Onboarding & Education Programmes.

Singapore’s e-commerce market is expected to grow by 48% to US$7.4 billion (S$10.04 billion) by 2022, and a rising number of entrepreneurial Singaporeans are capitalising on the opportunity to sell their products directly to customers all around the world on eBay.

According to eBay head of Southeast Asia Seller Growth Wong Mei Inn, “Singapore’s cross border trade (CBT) exports continue to grow and there is huge opportunity for more small businesses to join the ranks of eBay sellers. By listing their products on eBay’s global marketplace, Singaporean businesses can reach 180 million active buyers all around the world.”

“Let’s eBay with SIRS was designed for the small business and entrepreneur who has little or no e-commerce experience but wants to learn directly from the source,” said Wong.

“eBay has thousands of sellers here in Singapore and over 80% of them sell to customers overseas. eBay’s focus in Singapore this year is to enable even more SMEs to sell worldwide”, said Jenny Hui, general manager, Cross Border Trade, eBay Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia.

“e-Commerce has been recognised as one of the key growth opportunities under the 2020 vision of the Retail Industry Transformation Map launched by SPRING Singapore (now Enterprise Singapore),” said Nanyang Polytechnic’s Singapore Institute of Retail Studies director Megan Ong. “By partnering eBay, we will be able to encourage retailers in Singapore to adopt e-commerce and omni-channel strategies to succeed in today’s digital context.”

SMEs contribute to 72% of Singapore’s employment, and in 2018, added a nominal value of S$213.6 billion, or 48% to the economy. The government has acknowledged the importance of SMEs plugging into the digital economy as it would make a noticeable impact on Singapore’s economic growth.

The workshop featured speakers from eBay, SIRS, WorldFirst, Watcheszon International, JTBC Global and DHL Express Singapore. The speakers shared case studies, advice on getting started, and introductions to payments and logistics service providers to help small businesses begin their global e-commerce journey.

Following the workshop, eBay has launched the “eBay Onboarding Programme”, a series of courses with SIRS to further enable SMEs to optimise cross-border selling and manage operations. Each course will be charged at S$160, and subsidies range from 70%-95%.

For more information on courses and subsidies, visit https://www.sirsdigitalcommerce.com/ebay.html or email SIRS at [email protected]