E-commerce expert seeing major growth amid online sales boom

Stirling-based e-commerce expert Optiseller says it has seen business double in the past six months and it is continuing to hire as the Covid-19 pandemic drives growth in online sales.

Optiseller says the pandemic has forced many firms to concentrate on online sales. Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto.

The firm provides ecommerce performance and content data for sellers, brands, partners and marketplaces. It said that due to “rocketing” demand for its services, the firm has added 20 staff since the beginning of the year, taking the total to more than 50, with ongoing efforts to fill another 20 job openings.

The company has also appointed a chief operating officer, Richard Falconer, to oversee further growth and expansion. He said: “The Covid-19 pandemic continues to generate a great deal of uncertainty and worry for all of us. At the same time, however, it has forced many businesses to concentrate on online sales and improving their online presence.”

Optiseller earlier this month urged online retailers to make sure their data is in good shape ahead of what is expected to be the busiest-ever Black Friday and Cyber Monday – or risk missing out on valuable sales.

Mr Falconer said: “Optiseller helps online retailers improve and optimise their data, which is key to success. It does not matter if retailers are a huge multinational or a small family-run business. If they are difficult to find or their products are poorly listed, they will be losing out on lots of sales, and quite possibly be blissfully unaware of what’s happening.”

Optiseller also recently won an £43,000 Innovate UK grant to develop a "first-of-its-kind” automated platform, which will fast-track online retailers onto eBay. The aim of the new platform is to completely automate the process of onboarding a retailer onto the marketplace, reducing the time it takes from ten to 12 weeks to just four, also slashing costs by a third.

Mr Falconer said: “Our solution not only mitigates against the temporary closure of the high street, but also helps companies grow revenues when demand has returned.”

Optiseller has also seen an extension to its agreement to offer its Aspect Finder tool free of charge to all eBay users. The technology automatically scans a user’s entire inventory, highlighting the missing specifics and providing a report on what additional information is required to comply. Users can use this report to update their listings directly on eBay or in bulk.

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