Small businesses are the beating heart of the UK’s economy and communities. So, to celebrate and support this cornerstone of society, eBay has partnered with Small Business Saturday: an annual campaign – with year-long impact – to encourage more people to shop from small businesses.
This year’s Small Business Saturday is taking place on Saturday 3 December 2022, which is also the campaign’s 10th anniversary! As the proud home to hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), we've worked alongside Small Business Saturday and retail experts to compile a selection of tips, which we hope can help your own business.
1. Ask customers to leave you a review
Digital marketing expert, Mark Tomkins, encourages small businesses to: “Make good use of your customers’ reviews. They’re your best salespeople – and three in five customers are willing to leave a review when asked. So, make it a part of your marketing strategy!”
On eBay, there’s no need to ask your buyers for reviews or Feedback as we take care of this for you. But if you’re able to deliver on your service promises and do what you do best – that is, going above and beyond to satisfy your customers – this can help to encourage positive Feedback.
Feedback scores are one of the first things potential buyers look for before purchasing on eBay, so doing what you can to uphold your score is an effective way to establish trust and drive more sales.
2. Share the stories behind your products
Retail expert, Catherine Erdly, believes: “This year more than ever, you should think about the stories behind your products. So many of you invest a lot of time and effort into the products that you’re selling – be it thinking about how they’re made, or where they came from. So it’s important you pass these stories on to customers, so they can share the perfect gift with the perfect story behind it.”
Sharing these stories on eBay can help your items to stand out from the competition. But beyond simply sharing the stories behind your products in the description in your listings, why not tell your own story too? People love learning about the people and passions behind small businesses, which can help to endear your brand to potential customers. Best of all? This is now easier (and more impactful) than ever, with the ability to upload videos to your listings and Shopfront.
3. Get close to your customers
Gosbert Chagula MBE, co-founder of Startup Discovery School, encourages sellers to: “Get close to your customers. When we think of customers, they’re more than just the people who buy your products. Gain an understanding of their hopes, dreams and aspirations to understand what they want – and what they don’t yet know they want. The great thing is, there’s lots of analytics tools out there to help you achieve this.”
When selling on eBay, there’s a whole host of tools and features at your disposal to help you understand customer behaviour and seasonal shopping trends. Terapeak product research is one such example, with its delivering of easy-to-understand, customisable reports that provide an overview of which products and categories are popular, and which strategies are successful in attracting buyers.
Learn more in this eBay Academy course.
4. Look after your existing customers
Founder of Small Business Britain, Michelle Ovens CBE, reminds sellers to: “Focus on your current customers. It’s easy to get sucked into the excitement of acquiring new customers, but existing customers are easier and cheaper to access. Firstly, think about how you can get them to spend a little more. Secondly, get them to come back a bit more often. If you can achieve this, it’s all going to add up!”
On eBay, it’s now easier than ever to engage your buyers and drive repeat business with the launch of new Shop features. One such feature is the ability to create newsletters with customised templates, where you can send promotional offers to customers and add branding to increase visibility.
For more free help and advice on starting or scaling your business, head to eBay Academy.
Thank you for selling on eBay,
Your eBay Team.
