In May, ten Portuguese SMEs, some of them already selling on Amazon, visited MAD7, our robotics fulfilment centre in Illescas, Spain, with the aim of finding out what happens after a customer clicks ‘buy’.
During the visit, Inês Ruvina, Amazon’s Country Lead in Portugal, and the team shared how Amazon is innovating so that Portuguese companies have the opportunity to grow and export online. Inês said: “The advantage of Amazon is that any company, regardless of its size, can use it as an online sales channel that gives them access to millions of customers across Europe. All this without the need for companies to invest separately in creating their own website, setting up a secure payment gateway, investing in online marketing to attract traffic, or having an international team.”
There are already about 900 Portuguese SMEs that have a presence on Amazon, like Delta, iMuda, Castelbel, Ambar, Renova, and Boticario, which together have sold over two million products through our store.
Bruno Tomé, Delta's Corporate Director of Operations Spain, said: “The process began about two and a half years ago. We are now actively using Amazon, which has allowed us to grow internationally and reach our goal, which is to be able to be in more homes and in more companies on a daily basis with our product, and this relationship has been perfect for positioning ourselves where we want to be.”
The countries where Portuguese companies export to the most are France, Spain, Germany, Italy and the U.S., with export values through Amazon of around €100 million in 2022 (+15% vs. 2021), of which 80% are within EU.
Amazon handles logistics
38% of Portuguese sellers use our logistics services (FBA - Fulfilment by Amazon). “Using FBA allows Portuguese companies to send their products to the logistics centres and Amazon takes care of receiving, storing, preparing, and sending the orders to the customer, while also handling any returns that may be necessary and providing customer service in the local language,” said Inês Ruvina. In other words, an SME in Braga can sell its products to a German customer without having to invest in setting up a logistics network, and without the need to train an international customer service team.
Portuguese companies selling on Amazon have created around 2,000 jobs to support their online businesses. During the visit, Marco Silva, one of the managing partners of iMUDA Telecommunications, said: “It’s important to transmit security and speed in shipping to the customer. I decided to work with Amazon, as a partner, to provide the best customer service.”
The visit was an opportunity for the SMEs to share experiences and best practices between companies that already sell on Amazon, as well as for those that would like to do so to increase their revenues and their product selection for customers.
