The good news is that it's getting easier. Both getting online and using the Internet to enable exports is getting a lot easier now with platforms such as Shopify, effectively pay-as-you-go, and it can scale with the business. You don't have to have massive upfront infrastructure investments, software investments, in order to get online and to start exporting.
Certainly what we see is that small businesses might start somewhere, even start on eBay, and use that as a way to test the waters. It's a very low-risk way to dip your toe into exports, and eBay is creating a trust, it is facilitating the transaction, and it's providing guarantees on both sides.
That said, when we talk to the small businesses that trade on eBay, they are not as aware as they should be of all the programs and benefits that are open to them, to get them going.
We've had round tables with both the current Minister of International Trade and the minister from the previous government, and in both cases our sellers were asked, “What government programs have you availed yourselves of?” The answer was, effectively, “None”. There needs to be much better communication and much better, for lack of a better word, marketing to small businesses to let them know what's available to them.
Certainly getting online with eBay and similar platforms can take a lot of the heavy lifting out, because those platforms are able to immediately connect them with demand in any number of countries.