From L-R: Charlotte Cheynard, Government Relations Manager France & Spain eBay, Jean-François Cesarini, Député (Member of the National Assembly) du Vaucluse, Bernard Vergier, President of the Vaucluse Chamber of Commerce and François Bourgoin, Head of Business Sellers and Partnerships France eBay
Earlier this week three members of the eBay France team traveled to the city of Avignon to host a conference dedicated to local entrepreneurs: How to grow your business online and internationally. eBay was initially invited to Avignon by dynamic Member of Parliament Jean-François Cesarini, himself a local trade owner who has made training his constituents to participate in the digital economy one of his top priorities. The team was kindly hosted by the Vaucluse Chamber of Commerce who helped spread the invitation to local stores, trade associations and business students. 50 people attended the conference which focused on providing participants with all of the tools they need to start selling on eBay. The event concluded with a very animated Q&A session and a networking cocktail event, courtesy of the local culinary school. Entrepreneurs had the chance to see their questions addressed by François Bourgoin, leader of the eBay France Professional Seller team.
The highlight of the day was without doubt the participation of Johan Renaud and Olivier Dierckx, from eBay-enabled company GPA. On stage, Johan told the story of his third-generation family business in car recycling, which he brought into the 21st century by selling on eBay. eBay now represents 16% of his turnover and enabled him to expand his geographical reach while maintaining their historic and valued location in the small town of Livron-sur-Drôme. GPA employs 170 people and will soon build new infrastructure to store their more than 90,000 offerings, all the while making a significant contribution to sustainable development by processing, cleaning and certifying parts from more than a hundred out-of-order vehicles each day.
The eBay team is grateful to all parties who made this event possible as we continue our commitment to open new opportunities for businesses, whatever their size or location. eBay Government Relations remains notably open to partnering with the French government to tackle the country’s second-to-last European rank in SMB sales online.