Ezebee

We recently had the privilege of catching up with the lovely Alice Taylor, Country Manager for English speaking countries at ezebee.com

ezebee.com has already seen exponential growth since it launched at the end of 2012 and has big plans for the future. Could this be a new platform for you to get your work into the world?

When was ezebee.com established and how did it come about?

ezebee.com was established at the end of 2012 by active online entrepreneurs Ossian Vogel and Frank de Vries. After identifying the problems for small business owners with little money, they decided to create an online marketplace for companies to sell their work and have a community, all in one place, at ezebee.com.

What does it provide?

ezebee.com is an international platform for creatives. A platform where you can have your blog, social media, customer contacts, events and your shop. Anyone wishing to sell or buy products, services or anything else creative, can! And it’s completely free! We have a big community on the ezebee.com platform, working with 7 languages in 150 different countries and growing. We have around 140,000 visitors to our site per day. Our main target for sellers, is women 30-40 but as we grow, so does our audience.

Who’s Alice?

I am very new to ezebee.com, I started 3 weeks ago as the Country Manager for English speaking countries. As we are available in 7 different languages, we have at least 1 member of staff to manage each. For the English site, at the moment we have large communities in the UK, US and we’re now focusing on South Africa and India, along with many other developing countries. Many users have an English showroom as well as in their native language, to broaden their audiences. This makes the job role a little more complex, targeting multiple countries and cultures. I take part in social media, translations, PR, brand development and much more. The team here are very connected, and we are always sharing ideas to help ezebee.com grow.

How many shops do you have?

Currently, ezebee.com hosts shops in more than 150 counties worldwide. Most shops are based in Europe, but we also feature a lot of shops from around the world. In total we have more than 30.000 shops online, featuring over 150.000 products and services. That’s a lot of creative stuff!

What’s the most popular section on ezebee?

At ezebee.com, we are open to anything (within reason) because we feel creativity shouldn’t have limits. At the moment we have products, services and even rentals and are constantly expanding our offers. The most popular part of our site is the DIY and up-cycling section as there are a lot of shops featuring handmade products, made on a budget.

What are the most bizarre things sold on your website?
We have had some really interesting products, such as a floating suspension bed ( a really cool idea). Another strange showroom is ‘Uniques‘ – they make lights out of bricks, rope and other recycled materials. It shows you can make something out of anything!

Why should a designer sell on ezebee?

It is completely free to open a showroom and sell your products or services with us. We do not take any commission, the money you make is yours to keep! Also, products won’t expire automatically, they will stay in your showroom unless you delete them, making them easier to manage.

What’s the biggest tip for setting up a successful shop?

It might sound simple, but fill in all of your profile and showroom details, providing as much information as possible. Users like to stay informed and find all the answers they are looking for. It also shows that you are organised and like to do things thoroughly, setting a good example! Another thing, is to market your showrooms, sharing them on your own social media and blog. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising, so tell all of your friends!

Can you share some success stories?

‘Hoseware‘ is a really cool company in Estonia, selling up cycled products made from fire hoses- who would have thought?! ezebee.com has really helped them to grow and promote their products, and they have been featured in magazines and fairs.

What is the future plans for ezebee.com?

We want to expand our community into even more languages so that creatives from around the world can connect with one another. We are going to add Czech, so that we can expand to Eastern Europe and also Swedish, which will be our first Nordic language. We will soon be launching our exciting new website – ezebee.com 2.0. The platform will run much faster, which is important as we gain so many more users. We are also starting to focus more on South Africa and India, as both have huge potential and ezebee.com could really help these developing countries to sell internationally.