Retail Revival
Supporting Texas Small Businesses Through Retail Revival
Now, more than ever, we remain committed to helping small businesses sustain and grow.
By: eBay News Team
Every Day, People Build Businesses on Our Platform
Enabling economic opportunity and prosperity for all is at the heart of our purpose. Through our technology, we’re paving the path forward for a more equitable economy by enabling sellers to tap markets that were once out of reach. With just a simple internet connection, anyone can participate in a global marketplace on eBay, where they can gain access to vast economic opportunity.
Retail Revival: Helping Small Businesses Thrive
Our innovative Retail Revival program helps train local business owners to sell their unique inventory in a global marketplace, while strengthening ties within their local business community.
Good for Businesses
eBay never competes with sellers—we support them. We are successful when they are successful. We developed Retail Revival to equip small businesses with the skills they need to thrive in the global economy.
Through this 12-month program, participating sellers receive comprehensive training, individualized coaching, and ongoing promotional support to help them start and succeed on eBay.
These retailers gain access to 185 million active buyers in 190 markets on the eBay platform, while deepening their roots and relationships in their local business communities.
Here is just a sampling of the program’s impact to date:
- Participating businesses have sold nearly 900,000 items to over 500,000 buyers
- Their buyers represent 175 countries around the world
- Sales from international buyers represent 18% of the sellers’ total revenue
- Sellers with previous experience on eBay experienced average year-over-year growth of 24%
Good for Shoppers
From handmade stationery and home furnishings, to products made from locally sourced materials, and clothing that reflects regional trends and culture—shoppers can find unique offerings online while supporting the revitalization of communities around the world.
Sellers in each Retail Revival city bring their own local flavors, styles, and offerings to the platform, helping us deliver the most dynamic, diverse marketplace possible and one-of-a-kind shopping experience.
Here are some of the original finds available from Retail Revival businesses:
- City skylines carved from vinyl record albums - Records Redone, Lansing
- Handmade backpacks and travel accessories - Goodstart Jones, Wolverhampton
- Louisiana-grown pecans and specialty food gifts - Pointe Coupee Pecan, Baton Rouge
- Pop culture skateboard lights - Whiskertin, Akron
- Sustainable silk and hand-dyed women’s apparel - Miranda Bennett Studio, Austin
Shop Retail Revival
Good for Cities
Cities need their local businesses to grow, create jobs, and expand their footprint in the community.
We partner with city leaders to empower their local retailers to take full advantage of the digital marketplace and access new customers around the world. This work is done in tandem with existing efforts to foster entrepreneurship and stimulate economic growth. There is no cost to the host cities or retailers to participate in the Retail Revival program.
With active support from each of the partner cities, eBay recruits, vets, and selects local applicants who are best poised for success on the platform. The 60-80 accepted businesses are then provided onboarding support, training, education, and coaching from a dedicated eBay team.
Throughout the program year, eBay shines a spotlight on each Retail Revival partner city through ongoing marketing and media outreach. Eager to support their successes both on and off the platform, we also work with relevant local organizations to provide “wrap around” services to the participants.
These partnerships can also create additional opportunities between eBay and our host cities. For example, where we can, we hire local program managers and vendors to help execute the Retail Revival program on the ground. In 2018, after the successful launch of Retail Revival in Akron, Ohio, eBay selected Akron as the first US location of our formal work-from-home program, eBay@Home, which brought nearly 300 full-time jobs with benefits to the city.
Good for the Economy
Small to medium businesses, like those participating in the Retail Revival program, are essential to economic prosperity beyond their communities.
According to a survey among eBay’s six million commercial and full-time US sellers, small businesses on eBay employ more than 690,000 people in the US, and more than a third of these sellers come from small towns and rural areas.
Online commerce enables businesses of any size and location to open new avenues for revenue and growth beyond their immediate geography. The vast majority of sellers we surveyed—80 percent—say that selling on eBay enabled them to start their ecommerce business, and a third also operate a local brick-and-mortar store along with their online business.
eBay empowers these businesses to reach customers worldwide (which 63 percent say they do) while keeping jobs close to home.
“People can live where they work,” said Grace Kontur, founder of Kontur Wood Works, one of the businesses participating in Retail Revival in Akron. “People can enjoy their community⎯and also make money⎯while being part of a global community and economy that’s never been possible before.”
What Leaders Are Saying
Small businesses help keep Austin weird. eBay helping Austin retailers enlarge their customer bases brings Austin’s unique creativity to people around the world and helps local artists and craftspeople to transform their ideas into thriving, global businesses.
Steve Adler
Mayor of Austin
The small business community in Baton Rouge exemplifies the vibrancy of our city. Baton Rouge has growing businesses in every sector, from retail and restaurants to innovative tech companies growing in our incubators. We're excited to work with eBay through Retail Revival.
Sharon Weston Broome
Mayor-President, Baton Rouge, LA
Greensboro is a city of makers. We have small businesses serving our community with everything from art to apparel to technology. We’re proud to have this opportunity to partner with eBay to enhance our businesses and give them the tools they need to grow, compete, and succeed in the market.
Nancy Barakat Vaughan
Mayor of Greensboro
Strong, independent small businesses have always played an important role in our local economy and in shaping our character of place. As Halifax and Nova Scotia are working to embrace the innovation economy, we are proud to have this partnership with eBay Canada.
Mike Savage
Mayor of Halifax Regional Municipality
eBay will provide valuable support to city retailers in the wake of a challenging national retail climate affected changes in consumer behaviour and the economy. It is an exciting programme that will help businesses with their digital marketing and sales skills.
Roger Lawrence
City of Wolverhampton Council Leader, Councillor
The Retail Revival program will allow us to further support the growth of small businesses throughout the city. Lansing’s time is now, and it’s an honor that eBay chose our city as the next leader in local businesses utilizing their online platform.
Andy Schor
Mayor of Lansing
We’re a proud partner with eBay; we’re very excited for them to be here. They’re going to give us the expertise for everyone to be able to compete in a global marketplace.
Dan Horrigan
Mayor of Akron
25 companies from Udmurtia were selected to take part in Export Revival. Our highest bid lays on online promotion of our exporters. Competitive companies would significantly enlarge sales markets by enhancing the target audience hundreds of times.
Alexander Brechalov
Governor of the Udmurt Republic
We welcome such initiatives for the training of small and medium-sized enterprises in the context of the country's digital transformation. Greek companies, using every digital too possible, can open their horizons around the world through e-commerce.
Grigoris Zarifopoulos
Deputy Minister of Digital Governance
Since a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises are already taking advantage of the opportunities provided by the platform for their development and growth, I consider it my duty to strengthen this effort as much as I can.
Giannis Chatzitheodosiou
President of the Athens Chamber of Tradesmen
Regional Programs
eBay works with local city leaders, universities, and others in regions across the world to develop innovative small business programs to address specific retail challenges—always with the mission to scale solutions to benefit retailers in other communities.
Greece
eBay’s Export Revival program celebrates the rich history of trade in Greece by supporting local entrepreneurs and bringing their businesses to a global stage.
By providing small to medium-sized businesses the tools and resources they need to grow and expand eBay grants access to millions of new customers worldwide, and helps to strengthen the local economy.
The program is under the auspices of the Ministry of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media and the Municipality of Athens, and is supported by ACT – Athens Chambers of Tradesman, SEV – Hellenic Federation of Enterprises.
Throughout the program, Greek businesses learn how to develop their business and operate their own e-shop on our platform. Benefits include a monthly training program taught by eBay experts; customized support; exposure to more than 185 million buyers in 190 global markets; a dedicated page on eBay.com highlighting the participants’ products and a promotional campaign on eBay.
Bulgaria
Fifty local businesses completed eBay’s Export Revival training in Plovdiv, Bulgaria at the end of 2019. By helping these businesses to sell locally sourced goods to global consumers online, the program aims to increase the region’s exports and stimulate the economy.
Supported by the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy and the Municipality of Plovdiv, the four-week training program taught entrepreneurs everything from product presentation to helpful sales tactics to effectively sell online.
Local entrepreneurs' seminars were held in Plovdiv by eBay trainers and mentors, who paid individual attention to each participant and their specific challenges. “eBay’s Export Revival program was an amazing opportunity to learn more about the platform. It helped us to present our company and products in the best way possible.” says Lina Andres, Baba’s Soapery Manager.
“There are currently 10,000+ eBay sellers in Bulgaria, and now 50 more companies have access to millions of buyers across the world,” said Ilya Kretov, GM for global emerging markets at eBay. “Thanks to the business, government and regional authorities, export sales in Bulgaria may increase significantly, and this is something we are looking forward to.”
Companies from different sectors joined the first of its kind initiative in Bulgaria, which resulted in 7400+ unique products listed on a dedicated Made in Bulgaria page. The products span women's fashion, baby goods, auto parts, leather goods, souvenirs, watches, cars assembling models and even handmade soaps.
Canada
Halifax, Nova Scotia, is home to Canada’s first Retail Revival. The program helps local small and medium retailers reach new domestic and global customers through specialized ecommerce training, workshops and support.
Launched in March 2019, in partnership with the Halifax Partnership, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), Nova Scotia Business Inc., and Saint Mary’s University, the program aims to help 59 retailers grow online through eBay.
Halifax, en Nouvelle-Écosse, est la première ville canadienne à participer au programme Relance du commerce de détail d’eBay. Ce programme aide les petites et moyennes entreprises à accéder à un bassin de nouveaux clients à l’échelle nationale et internationale grâce à un soutien, à des formations et à des ateliers spécialisés en commerce électronique.
Lancé en mars 2019 en collaboration avec Halifax Partnership, l’Agence de promotion économique du Canada atlantique (APECA), Entreprises Nouvelle-Écosse Inc. et l’Université Saint Mary’s, le programme vise à aider 59 détaillants à développer leurs activités en ligne sur eBay.
Israel
In March 2019, we launched the Retail Revival program in Israel, in cooperation with the Joint-Link program and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, to promote social and employment integration by creating an eCommerce community.
The program is designed for manufacturers, business owners, and suppliers in the Galilee with a focus on the settlements of Yarka and Sakhnin, including manufacturers and suppliers in the fields of handicrafts, jewelry, clothing, and others.
"eBay offers a unique opportunity for small business owners in the Galilee, with its vast purchasing power of active buyers from around the world,” said Anna Pelkin, Head of Business Development for Israel and Eastern Europe. “This is a business lever for business owners in the Galilee and a great example for business owners all over the country to create new opportunities in the field of eCommerce."
Fifty-five business owners selected for the project are benefitting from a comprehensive five-session training course that provides local business owners with tools for setting up an online store on eBay, as well as a personal coaching program by eBay experts, enrichment lectures, and special benefits for participants, such as exposure and promotion.
Content meetings are delivered in two tracks tailored to merchants familiar with the contents of the online trade and merchants without prior knowledge. The program also provides training for business management, including product photography, inventory raising, marketing, and more.
Retail Revival is one of a series of investments made by eBay in Israel to promote the small business community and encourage exports and innovation.
Read Our Latest Retail Revival News
Shop Retail Revival
Find unique, inspired items and support local economic development in cities around the world by shopping Retail Revival businesses.
Always Open on eBay
No matter the time, day, or distance, shoppers can always find great deals and unique inventory at local retailers worldwide. Customers simply scan a QR code on the store window of participating sellers or visit Always Open on eBay to explore the store’s inventory.
