December 10, 2020 Opinion piece
As we approach the end of the year, the GS1 UK marketplaces team take a look back at the past twelve months, and reflect on what has changed and what has been achieved
2020… a year that will go down in history, for a long list of reasons.
This has been the year when:
- Working from home became the norm
- Face masks became a fashion statement (as well as a necessity)
- Businesses have learnt to pivot and adapt at phenomenal speed
- We came together to fight a common enemy and, hopefully, developed a little more kindness
At GS1 UK, we have also ridden the wave of change in what has turned out to be a very busy year. Social restrictions and possible job losses seem to have allowed more time for many to put your Dragons Den ideas into action. As a result, we’ve welcomed more than 7,000 ambitious and entrepreneurial new members, since July alone, many of whom have launched products to support the nation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Interestingly, more than 85 per cent of our new members, joined to trade on marketplaces. This supports all the noise we’ve heard in the media about businesses accelerating their digital transformation and going direct to consumers via online channels.
As we pause to reflect on the past year, here are some of the highlights from the marketplaces team:
- Alongside Amazon, we presented a webinar on ”barcode basics”, in five languages, to help all new sellers successfully list on Amazon across the five PAN EU websites
- Early on in the pandemic, we collaborated with a number of our community partners to produce a series of six “how to” webinars to help you get the most out of trading on marketplaces during the pandemic – if you missed the webinars or want to watch them again, click here
- We teamed up with Enterprise Nation, on their Amazon Accelerator bootcamp where 1,000 small businesses were able to access bespoke Amazon training, on everything from setting up an account to trading internationally - these bootcamps were such a success, we ran a second series in November
So, it is important to remember, we do a lot more than just barcodes for Amazon. Your membership gives you a company prefix (identity), which is part of a whole system of standards. When these standards are unlocked, they enable you to trade globally, with any business, anywhere in the world. Have a look at this simple video to learn more.
We are here to help you speak the global language of business. Come and talk to us!
Best wishes for the festive season and here’s to successful 2021!