FREE online business academy launched by Preston based EKM

Amidst a massive boom for online retailers, Preston-based ecommerce company EKM has announced the release of EKM Academy, a resource for those looking to expand their knowledge of ecommerce and business.

In recent years ecommerce has been growing rapidly, with more and more companies looking to take their operations online for the first time.

Shoppers love the convenience of being able to research and order products from the comfort of their own homes. Foot traffic to brick and mortar shops has fallen over the last few years, while ecommerce’s share in overall global retail is expected to hit 18.1% in 2021.

To compete with this demand, existing businesses are beginning to set up and perfect their online presences, while new online-only businesses are popping up seemingly overnight.

While in the past it may have been difficult and confusing to create and maintain your very own online shop, this isn’t necessarily the case in 2020.

‘We all know the internet is a massive wealth of information. You can learn to do almost anything with a few Google searches’, explains Antony Chesworth, CEO and founder of EKM.

‘But it can be hard to wade through site after site, sometimes finding conflicting information from one page to another. And a lot of the blogs and articles surrounding how to start an online business are centred around an American audience.

We wanted to create a hub for reliable information that is relevant to those looking to enter the UK ecommerce market’.

And thus, EKM Academy was born. The online knowledge hub was added to EKM’s popular ecommerce blog in June 2020.

The first course released, ‘The Basics of Starting an Online Shop’, is completely free and covers all aspects of starting an online business from the ground up, including registering your business, sourcing products, building a brand, setting up on social media and much more.

More courses will be added in the upcoming months, with topics ranging from SEO to email marketing and more.

The series of online courses are not the ecommerce giant’s first foray into educating business owners. EKM has been known to host in-person training events at their state-of-the-art Preston facility, which includes a purpose-built auditorium for lectures, training and seminars. The online academy is an adaptation of these courses that will make the information accessible to a wider audience.

‘Over the last 18 years we have, as a company, accumulated so much knowledge that we want to make available for business owners,’ said Chesworth.

‘My hope is that EKM Academy will be a resource for anyone who is looking to make the jump and start their own online shop. We hope this will make it more attainable for people in the UK, and indeed all over the world, to access relevant information and to start doing something they love.’