Tag Archive for Buying and selling

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Average small business makes £300,000 on Amazon

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By Timothy Adler on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

In total, UK small businesses sold 750m products through Amazon last year, up by more than one third.

The number of small businesses selling through Amazon increased by 20 per cent to 65,000, as people shopped online during pandemic lockdowns.

>See also: As predicted, Amazon passes on 2% sales tax onto small businesses

Indeed, more that 1,000 UK businesses reached £1m in sales selling through Amazon last year.

And another 14,000 SMEs generated more than £100,000 worth of sales through the internet giant.

Amazon announced that around 60 per cent of all physical product sales on its UK store were from independent sellers, most of whom were SMEs.

And those small businesses have created 175,000 jobs across the UK fulfilling those Amazon sales.

Some 40 per cent of small businesses selling on Amazon were based in London and the southeast of England, and the five most popular product lines according to the 2021 UK SME Community Report included homewares, health, toys, clothes and beauty.

Exporters also thrived on the platform, Amazon said, seeing their collective overseas revenues rise by 27 per cent to £3.5bn.

Around 30,000 UK firms pay for Amazon’s fulfilment service, where

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Hot Business News Today

Average small business made £300,000 selling on Amazon last year

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Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The average small business selling through Amazon made £300,000 in 2020, an increase of 50 per cent year on year.
In total, UK small businesses sold 750m products through Amazon last year, up by more than one third.
The number of small businesses selling through Amazon increased by 20 per cent to 65,000, as people shopped online during pandemic lockdowns.
>See also: As predicted, Amazon passes on 2% sales tax onto small businesses
Indeed, more that 1,000 UK businesses reached £1m in sales selling through Amazon last year.
And another 14,000 SMEs generated more than £100,000 worth of sales through the internet giant.
Amazon announced that around 60 per cent of all physical product sales on its UK store were from independent sellers, most of whom were SMEs.
And those small businesses have created 175,000 jobs across the UK fulfilling those Amazon sales.
Some 40 per cent of small businesses selling on Amazon were based in London and the southeast of England, and the five most popular product lines according to the 2021 UK SME Community Report included homewares, health, toys, clothes and beauty.
Exporters also thrived on the platform, Amazon said, seeing their collective overseas revenues rise by 27 per cent

Read more...

Hot Business News Today

Average small business made £300,000 selling on Amazon last year

by  •  • 0 Comments

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The average small business selling through Amazon made £300,000 in 2020, an increase of 50 per cent year on year.
In total, UK small businesses sold 750m products through Amazon last year, up by more than one third.
The number of small businesses selling through Amazon increased by 20 per cent to 65,000, as people shopped online during pandemic lockdowns.
>See also: As predicted, Amazon passes on 2% sales tax onto small businesses
Indeed, more that 1,000 UK businesses reached £1m in sales selling through Amazon last year.
And another 14,000 SMEs generated more than £100,000 worth of sales through the internet giant.
Amazon announced that around 60 per cent of all physical product sales on its UK store were from independent sellers, most of whom were SMEs.
And those small businesses have created 175,000 jobs across the UK fulfilling those Amazon sales.
Some 40 per cent of small businesses selling on Amazon were based in London and the southeast of England, and the five most popular product lines according to the 2021 UK SME Community Report included homewares, health, toys, clothes and beauty.
Exporters also thrived on the platform, Amazon said, seeing their collective overseas revenues rise by 27 per cent

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Valuing your business for sale

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Originally written by Rupert Cattell on Small Business
Valuing your business for sale
I have been selling businesses for over 35 years and have by now probably sold more than 4,000 businesses. Valuing a business for sale is a key question for any small business owner. Obviously the first question all vendors ask is what’s my business worth?
The pat answer is what someone is prepared to pay for it but there are a number of useful methods that can refine and bring logic to the answer. We sell businesses worth anywhere between £100,000 to £7m and so what I say below doesn’t necessarily apply to higher value businesses.
Be realistic from the outset
In their heart of hearts it is my experience that most vendors have a pretty fair idea of what their business is really worth. They are really looking for affirmation from a broker. There are brokers who will prey on the vendor’s greed to get an instruction by suggesting a ridiculous price, or a vendor will be pricing his business on what he needs rather than what it’s worth.
I also often have the conversation with a vendor in which they say “let’s start high, we can always come down”. None of

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Hot Business News Today

Valuing your business for sale

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Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Valuing your business for sale
I have been selling businesses for over 35 years and have by now probably sold more than 4,000 businesses. Valuing a business for sale is a key question for any small business owner. Obviously the first question all vendors ask is what’s my business worth?
The pat answer is what someone is prepared to pay for it but there are a number of useful methods that can refine and bring logic to the answer. We sell businesses worth anywhere between £100,000 to £7m and so what I say below doesn’t necessarily apply to higher value businesses.
Be realistic from the outset
In their heart of hearts it is my experience that most vendors have a pretty fair idea of what their business is really worth. They are really looking for affirmation from a broker. There are brokers who will prey on the vendor’s greed to get an instruction by suggesting a ridiculous price, or a vendor will be pricing his business on what he needs rather than what it’s worth.
I also often have the conversation with a vendor in which they say “let’s start high, we can always come down”. None of

Read more...

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How this London bakery found new revenue streams during lockdown

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Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Converted into a mini bakery, Alexandre Bettler’s spare bedroom was full of 25kgs bags of flour, fridges stacked on top of one another, with flour dust everywhere. In 2016, Alexandre Bettler decided to open his very own bakery business.
Bettler, a graphic designer, became interested in breadmaking as a hobby while studying at the Royal College of Art. He saw it as a means of communication (the French word for bread, “pain”, comes from the word “copain” or friend).
He began delivering his handmade sourdough loaves by bike to local friends in Walthamstow, East London. Soon he was delivering to local restaurants. Bettler realised he had outgrown their spare room and he opened the doors of artisan bakery Today Bread back in 2016. Not only was it a bakery but it had a 40-seat café as well. Soon, his bakery was selling up to 300 loaves a day.
Then the pandemic hit in March 2020.
Bettler was forced to close his doors and pivot to an online delivery service and takeaway almost overnight to keep going.
Thankfully, Square enabled him to get up and running as an online business within two days.
>See also: How to optimise cash flow

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How to optimise cash flow with cashless payments

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Originally written by Dan Matthews on Small Business
Cash flow is the lifeblood of enterprise. Plenty of small businesses go to the wall each year, despite being fundamentally strong, because without having a view of how much money they have for payroll, inventory and long-term growth it’s difficult to determine how much money is needed to safeguard their business.
Boosting cash flow, not just sales
It doesn’t matter whether your products and services are in demand if the money from sales arrives too late to pay for business-related costs. This is a balancing act that many businesses struggle to achieve.
The good news is there are several ways to control cash leaving your business, while ensuring money comes in thick and fast. They include leasing big-ticket equipment, negotiating better deals with suppliers, and creating an efficient system to crunch your numbers.
For businesses that get paid through invoices, there are strategies to speed up payment times and ensure your customers are solvent and reliable.
But what about businesses that take payment at point of sale – is there a way to ensure payments hit your bank account in good time?
Upping your cash flow game with Square
Firstly, you need a payment platform with a positive reputation in

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How to sell anywhere with contactless payments

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Originally written by Dan Matthews on Small Business
The way consumers pay for goods and services has been revolutionised in recent years. From the coins and notes that we have all used for decades, to the smart digital applications of the 2020s, people now have more ways to pay than ever before.
As a small business owner, keeping up with advances in payments technology can feel like a challenge, but in truth getting set up is easier than you might think.
Why go contactless?
Cash remains a popular way to buy. According to the Bank of England, there are around £70bn-worth of notes in circulation, or about £1,000 for every member of the British public.
But plastic has caught up and, in 2017, overtook paper and coins as the UK’s preferred payment method. At the same time, the old-style Chip and PIN method has been joined by contactless as a quick and easy way to settle bills of £45 and under.
Before the coronavirus took hold in the UK, there were 889m contactless payments in February 2020 alone, the vast majority of which were made via credit or debit card. But customers also increasingly use their phones or smart devices to pay.
But at the peak of

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Hot Business News Today

How to sell anywhere with contactless payments

by  •  • 0 Comments

Originally written by Dan Matthews on Small Business
The way consumers pay for goods and services has been revolutionised in recent years. From the coins and notes that we have all used for decades, to the smart digital applications of the 2020s, people now have more ways to pay than ever before.
As a small business owner, keeping up with advances in payments technology can feel like a challenge, but in truth getting set up is easier than you might think.
Why go contactless?
Cash remains a popular way to buy. According to the Bank of England, there are around £70bn-worth of notes in circulation, or about £1,000 for every member of the British public.
But plastic has caught up and, in 2017, overtook paper and coins as the UK’s preferred payment method. At the same time, the old-style Chip and PIN method has been joined by contactless as a quick and easy way to settle bills of £45 and under.
Before the coronavirus took hold in the UK, there were 889m contactless payments in February 2020 alone, the vast majority of which were made via credit or debit card. But customers also increasingly use their phones or smart devices to pay.
But at the peak of

Read more...

Hot Business News Today

How to value the goodwill

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Originally written by jamesjohnson on Small Business
When looking to buy or sell a business its value will be more than just the assets it holds. One of more intangible assets to value is goodwill – the magic sauce that makes one business attract a higher valuation than another that may appear to be similar.
Goodwill is the value that someone is prepared to pay for a business above and beyond the value of its assets. That will include the strength of a business’s brand, customer databases and those aspects of a business that add value to a buyer.
For most businesses, the value of goodwill is tied into its current and future earnings – what do the future profits of the business look like and can that profitability be increased – sometimes called “super profits”.
How to value the goodwill
In calculating goodwill, your accountant would start with the profit and loss accounts of the business, typically for the last three years. Some adjustments might be necessary to arrive at the profits for the goodwill calculation, sometimes called the average maintainable earnings.
The most usual adjustment is for payments to the owner or manager over and above a reasonable salary for the work they do.
Once

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