Community, Representation, Sustainability and Globalization: Looking Back at eBay’s 2023 Award-Winning Sellers – Canadian Business – How to Do Business Better
Since 2004, eBay has acknowledged Canadian entrepreneurs harnessing the e-commerce firm’s digital market to scale and propel their companies by way of its annual Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. As we head into a brand new yr, we’re trying again at among the Canadian small companies that stood out on eBay’s platform in 2023.
“The winners, chosen from a record number of seller entries, showcase best-in-class examples of how the platform enables sellers to stay local and sell global, with access to 132 million buyers across 190 markets,” mentioned eBay Canada General Manager Garry Thaniel. “At eBay, we recognize how much small business owners pour their hearts into ensuring their businesses flourish and succeed. We partner with sellers; we don’t compete with them. Our purpose is to fuel their success and make it easy for them to move their products online. We want to empower small businesses across Canada with our tools, support and advocacy to help keep their business growing.”
Winners of the Entrepreneur of the Year awards obtain not solely the trade recognition and money prizes to reinvest of their companies, but in addition invaluable assets, together with a one-year eBay Store subscription improve, a year-long quarterly session session with an eBay Canada business improvement specialist, and an expert images session.
Alongside its world-class instruments to make worldwide transport a breeze, vendor insights to customise promotions or create nice listings that work in any nation for optimized gross sales, in addition to the flexibleness to decide on the format that works for them, eBay continues to make it straightforward for Canadian small business homeowners to remain native and promote international.
Beyond their capacity to leverage the ability of eBay to promote to the world, the 2023 winners showcase the breadth and depth of the revolutionary small business group and their success in bringing group, illustration, sustainability and globalization to the forefront.
Read on to satisfy 2023’s acclaimed recipients.
Micro-Multinational of the Year: ACO Repairs & Sales Solutions
After years of working in a business devoted to repairing manufacturing parts, Mississauga-based Amy Ozueh noticed a chance to not simply restore but in addition promote components on to prospects worldwide. Leveraging her understanding of the trade, she based ACO Repairs & Sales Solutions in 2006. Since then, this small business has grown outdoors its North American roots, because it continues to broaden internationally with over 20 per cent of its shopper base in international locations like Germany and Japan. “Through eBay, we’ve been able to increase our visibility seamlessly beyond borders and increase sales with European customers,” says Ozueh. “They continue to purchase our products more frequently, and ACO is quickly becoming one of their preferred vendors.”
Being acknowledged as 2023’s Micro-Multinational of the Year marks a major milestone for the business, because it additional empowers ACO in its plans to open a location in Houston, Texas. “We’re incredibly pleased with the visibility this recognition has provided to ACO,” provides Ozueh.”It has already performed an enormous position in our continued mission to attach cross-border on the bottom with our purchasers within the United States.”
Emerging E-commerce Entrepreneur of the Year: Partsterr
With a wealthy household legacy spanning over three many years within the auto components business, Nicolas Panaritis, founding father of Partsterr Auto Parts, developed a deep ardour and curiosity for the trade from a younger age. Recognizing the complexities and particular wants that prospects expertise when looking for automotive components, he got down to rework the panorama by digitizing the expertise past a standard brick-and-mortar retailer mannequin by way of e-commerce. “eBay felt like a natural place for my business to exist,” says Panaritis. “It’s clear to me that eBay prioritizes the experiences of its sellers and continues to work closely with them to help grow their businesses online. I’ve been able to leverage eBay’s technology and infrastructure for listing and selling products, and take advantage of its established customer base and marketing tools to gain exposure across all markets. As the platform continues to evolve and keep up with the latest and best practices in e-commerce, I have no doubt it remains the best space for me to help grow my business.”
Based in Montreal, Panaritis has shortly turn into one of many high auto components sellers on eBay Canada, thus incomes his distinction as 2023’s Emerging E-commerce Entrepreneur of the Year. “My plan is to reinvest the prize money into several different areas, including additional customer service and marketing,” he says. “From the photography package to the one-year store subscription, this program will help to give my business a clearer and more personalized identity while also allowing me to continue scaling up and growing trust with our dedicated buyers.”
Sustainable Seller of the Year: JLS Distributions
In 2023, eBay launched a brand new class to the awards—Sustainable Seller of the Year—to acknowledge a vendor who has leveraged the platform in help of a extra inexperienced and sustainable e-commerce economic system. JLS Distributions, the inaugural winner of this award, is a family-owned business with a ardour for lowering waste and selling a inexperienced economic system throughout native communities in North America. For greater than 15 years, Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec husband-and-wife workforce Jimmy Lachance and Genevieve Gaudreault offered used home equipment and helped prospects restore their very own with components, retaining these massive objects in working order and out of landfills. Since becoming a member of eBay in 2017, JLS Distributions has offered over 12,000 equipment components, extending its attain throughout North America and positively impacting hundreds of shoppers by offering in-demand merchandise to their prospects at decrease costs whereas additionally extending equipment lifespans. Furthermore, it has been capable of efficiently showcase the advantages of facilitating extra environmentally pleasant practices whereas nonetheless retaining updated with the trade.
Providing visibility for his or her small business, eBay’s market has turn into a important a part of JLS’s business mannequin; profitable the first-ever Sustainable Seller of the Year award is solely an added bonus. “While the prizes themselves are all extraordinary, what truly brings us the most joy is the recognition from eBay amongst all business owners that we are making an impact through our efforts and that they are here to continue to support us now and in times to come,” says Gaudreault.
2023 Entrepreneur of the Year: SlabSharks
Lastly, eBay’s Entrepreneur of the Year acknowledges an eBay vendor who greatest represents the spirit of eBay’s vendor group. 2023’s winner, SlabSharks, is a outstanding success story born out of a longstanding ardour for collectibles. Co-founder Karn Rai, a lawyer by coaching, spent years nurturing relationships and trade data at buying and selling card reveals and expos throughout North America. In 2022, with a modest $3,000 funding, Rai and his buddies—Harman Gill, Raja Dhillon, Gagan Rana and Nav Chahal—established SlabSharks, a sports activities card and buying and selling card consignment hub. Since its inception, the business has leveraged eBay far past what it may have presumably imagined, supporting seven figures in gross sales in 2022 with greater than double this worth in 2023. “eBay remains the go-to spot for consumers interested in collectibles,” says Rai. “By continuously selling on the platform, SlabSharks has been able to build a dedicated following while incrementally building our brand as a whole.”
In 2023, SlabSharks opened its first workplace in Mississauga. Further propelled by eBay’s help, this quickly rising small business has even larger plans for the long run. “As our appetite for growth continues, the prize money will help us with the acquisition of a 360-degree photography system, allowing for higher quality images of items being listed on the eBay platform,” says Rai. “The collectibles consumer is extremely observant of the images provided by a seller, so our investment will ensure that customers feel confident in the condition of items we are selling, thus hopefully resulting in higher bids.”
Above all, eBay’s Entrepreneur of the Year believes {that a} end result of exhausting work and group help made it doable to construct and elevate the corporate’s profile so shortly. “Taking a minute to pause and celebrate has been great for our team, as this recognition represents an important milestone for us as a business,” says Rai. “The excitement in our office is truly contagious, and we’re looking forward to continuing to build on the momentum we’ve gained over the past two years as we look further ahead into 2024 and beyond.”
The Power of eBay
Today, eBay connects tens of millions of patrons and sellers all over the world to a world market of 1.9 billion listings, spanning nearly each sort of product you can think about. In truth, now greater than ever, Canadian small business homeowners are leveraging the ability of eBay to promote to the world.
Small companies have powered nearly all of gross sales on eBay because the starting and throughout Canada, sellers are utilizing eBay to entry 132 million energetic patrons worldwide, with a whopping 99 per cent of them exporting to a mean of 18 international locations.
eBay makes it straightforward for Canadian entrepreneurs to develop their small companies, getting every part up and working for them to promote to a world market with world-class instruments, vendor insights and suppleness to decide on the format that works for them. A current international survey discovered that 92 per cent of sellers agreed that eBay is accessible to all, made much more highly effective by the truth that 90 per cent of sellers say eBay wins when sellers win.
By making a trusted promoting and shopping for expertise that protects customers and sellers alike over the previous three many years, eBay continues to distinguish itself from different platforms and makes use of its expertise to attach folks. Through its ongoing mission to empower entrepreneurs, join communities and create financial alternative for all, eBay seems to be ahead to supporting and seeing extra Canadian small companies succeed globally in 2024 and past.
Discover the best way to deliver your business on-line with eBay.