Nearly one in 8 UK online exports come from the Greater Manchester region while one in five of them come from the North West.

New figures from World First, the international money transfer expert, show that the North West accounts for a fifth of all online exports with Greater Manchester alone making up 13% of the UK’s total.

The recent boom is supported by growth from small businesses selling to global audience using online marketplaces like Amazon, eBay and Rakuten.

Greater Manchester and the North West have seen a steady growth of online exporters with recent figures from Amazon suggesting that there are over 7,000 Manchester based sellers on its marketplace selling products across the world.

Manchester leads the way for fashion and apparel e-commerce success stories in particular with Manchester-based companies like Boohoo.com and Pretty Little Thing helping to drive the market over the past 5 years.

To celebrate this surge in online entrepreneurship and with an aim of supporting online sellers looking to grow their business, World First is launching the Online Seller Cellar – a meet-up of local online and marketplace sellers.

At the event, online sellers will get first-hand advice from marketplace experts on how to make their online business an international triumph as well as hearing from local heroes, such as Swifty Scooters and Wake Drinks who have successfully sold their products from Manchester to Malaysia.

Commenting on the launch, Mark Bond, Head of E-Commerce Sales at World First, said: “Many are calling it the return of the rag trade to its rightful home. For others, it’s the real life demonstration of the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ rhetoric that has dominated political talk over the past few years. Whichever way you describe it, it is impossible to deny the online selling boom making the North West one of the most exciting e-commerce hubs.

“This is why Manchester is the perfect region for us to launch our Online Seller Cellar. Growing your online selling business can be a solitary and isolating job, but with thousands of small businesses and sole traders selling on marketplaces across the world, it really doesn’t have to be that way. World First wants to bring this community together and to support them in growing their businesses internationally.”

The inaugural Online Seller Cellar will take place at The Living Room in Deansgate, Manchester, on March 28th. Online sellers interested in joining can register to attend for free here.

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