1. MAIN INFORMATION
The Macedonian E-commerce Association – AETM, in partnership with the company Visa, publishes a public call entitled “E-Trade: Superpower for local businesses” for participation in the program for opening an additional sales channel (e-store within the framework of the marketplace) and strengthening e-commerce and digital marketing skills aimed at micro, small and medium-sized companies that do not have their own e-store.
The idea behind the project is to help participants improve their online presence in order to gain new customers and increase sales, as well as help them improve their e-commerce work processes by strengthening their digital skills.
2. GOAL
The purpose of the call is for micro, small and medium-sized companies to get the opportunity to open an additional sales channel – an e-store within a local marketplace, to improve the processes in their operations and to keep up with the latest trends in e-commerce, through strengthening on their digital skills related to e-commerce and digital marketing, which will help them increase their visibility and online sales.
With this call, the Association for e-commerce of Macedonia is involved in efforts to strengthen the competitiveness of micro, small and medium-sized companies and motivate them to improve and advance their operations related to e-commerce.
3. WHAT DOES THE PROGRAM CONSIST OF?
3.1. Opening of a new sales channel – e-shop
The selected companies will receive a value package of 1,000 euros for:
– to open an E-store within one of the offered marketplace platforms
– marketing promotion in order to increase e-sales.
3.2 Educational practical seminar
Selected candidates will have the opportunity to attend a one-day practical seminar “Everything about e-commerce” with physical presence, where some of the following topics will be covered: tools for managing and maintaining an e-store, digital marketing tools for e-commerce , social media marketing and advertising, etc. Participants will have the opportunity to learn new tools and tactics that will help them improve their e-commerce operations and increase e-sales.
4. DURATION OF THE PROGRAM
The selection of companies that will be part of the program for opening an e-store will take place in March 2023. The educational seminar will take place once, during the month of April 2023. After completing the educational seminar, the participants will be able to contact the AETM team and the lecturers for open questions related to the topics covered in the seminar and their work.
5. WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?
The public call is open to all micro, small and medium-sized companies that do not have an existing e-store or are not part of an online marketplace, i.e. do not sell their products/services online, and are interested in starting. 15 companies will be supported, and a maximum of two representatives from each company will be able to visit the educational seminar.
6. WHAT DO PARTICIPANTS GAIN?
Opening your own e-store within an existing marketplace platform within one year and selling your products online;
One-day practical seminar “Everything about e-commerce” in Skopje (with physical presence) on important topics related to running an e-store, held by experts in the fields of e-commerce and digital marketing with many years of experience;
Certificate for successful completion of the program from the Association for e-commerce of Macedonia – AETM;
7. APPLICATION DEADLINE AND HOW TO APPLY
To apply, you need to fill out the online application here, no later than 15.03.2022 at 11:59 p.m.
8. VALUE OF THE PROGRAM
The funds needed for the program to open an additional sales channel – an e-shop within the framework of the marketplace and to improve digital skills related to e-commerce are provided by AETM, in partnership with the Visa company, through the initiative “Supporting local businesses with the help of e- trade”. Registered companies can participate in the program for free, but are subject to a selection and selection process.
9. CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION OF THE PARTICIPANTS
Due to the limited number of participants, a selection of participants will be made who will be able to open their own e-store for free and follow the educational practical seminar to strengthen digital skills for e-commerce and digital marketing.
The basic criteria for the participation of companies are the following:
Legal status of the applicant (to be a registered legal entity and to be a micro, small or medium-sized enterprise)
Not currently selling your products and/or services online (via your e-store or online marketplace)
To have a completely filled out application/application
10. SELECTION AND EVALUATION
A committee composed of experts in the field of e-commerce will review the applications and, according to the pre-determined criteria specified in this public call, will select the participants who will follow the program to open a new e-store and to strengthen digital skills for e-commerce and digital marketing.
In order to provide additional support to women entrepreneurs and young people who have managed to start their own business, all women entrepreneurs and applicants under the age of 29 will receive an additional 5 points.
11. DEADLINE FOR STARTING PARTICIPATION IN THE PROJECT
The deadline for starting participation in the project is immediately after signing a participation agreement with AETM through which the participant will commit to following free trainings for the development of digital skills and posting the products on one of the local marketplace platforms.
12. PRIVACY
If you register to participate in the Public Call, it is understood that you have given your consent to the processing of personal data for the purposes for which you submit them. This data is collected by the Association for e-commerce in Macedonia for the purposes of the public call and will be used precisely for these purposes.
Applicants whose applications are selected will be publicly announced on the AETM website and will be contacted at the attached email addresses.
Each registered applicant reserves the right to request data deletion in accordance with legal norms and the privacy policy.
