The potential of e-commerce has considerably boosted exports of the Spanish SMEs. In Amazon, the 12,000 small and medium-sized companies in our country that sell through the platform reached the 650 million euros in exports in 2020. It is 30% more than in 2019, when the number of SMEs was slightly higher than 9,000.
Before the e-commerce boom, a Spanish company, based in El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz), decided to launch into online sales by allying itself with the internet giant, Amazon. Nortem Biotechnology chooses this marketplace in which to market its organic products, first in Spain and, in a short time, throughout Europe. Currently, this company bases its strategy on electronic commerce, especially abroad, where it invoices 75% of its annual turnover.
Higher growth among European countries
Electronic commerce between European countries is growing twice as much as domestic, as more than 70% of European online shoppers make cross-border orders, according to data from Euromonitor 2020.
The survey ‘Digital and global: the future of small Spanish companies’ prepared by Alibaba Group, reveals that 39% of the small Spanish companies surveyed plan to sell their products and services outside of Spain for the first time in 2021. However, José Luis Vázquez, Manager of Nortem Biotechnology, warns: “You must offer a good product that is competitive, because Amazon only sells the best and, in the not too distant future, the rest will not sell. This is a natural selection.
The option to sell abroad is becoming more and more complicated, which is why in recent years marketplaces have become a great ally for SMEs. Thus, experts say that this also means increased competition that will affect the vast majority of small and medium-sized companies. “Not everyone will be able to ride the wave of electronic commerce”, they explain from Nortem Biotechnology.
The company, which sells an average of 3,000 products daily, invoiced more than seven million euros from the hand of Amazon in 2020. In 2021 they hope to increase that figure exponentially. Now it continues in search of new projects, betting on innovation and integration in different markets globally
