Caribbean Export OUTLOOK 3rd Edition

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Our Competitive Advantage

Online Marketplaces and the Caribbean Caribbean businesses face many challenges in expanding beyond their national markets. The region is largely comprised of typically resource-strapped micro and small enterprises, which face the traditional physical barriers that small islands impose. They have limited, primarily national, networks and are impeded by banking services that do not readily enable small-value international transactions. Online marketplaces, however provide an easy means by which Caribbean SMEs can overcome these challenges and tap into a growing international consumer base. Online marketplaces eliminate the relevance of location and time, for example, by removing the need to travel to foreign markets, and enabling freelancing opportunities outside of traditional working hours. The small size of Caribbean businesses becomes an asset on online marketplaces, as consumers are seeking flexible and nimble service providers willing to adapt to their own requirements and timelines.The human resource challenges faced by Caribbean businesses of having to provide core services alongside the management of ancillary business tasks are eliminated, as the platform provides marketing, bookkeeping and record keeping services, amongst others. The difficulty in building large international networks of potential customers through complex online marketing strategies is also assumed by the platform, resulting in a large base of customers at the fingertips of service providers and providing scope for specialization in niche areas. Payment challenges, including managing the risk of non-payment and smaller foreign exchange transactions are removed, as payment is typically made in advance by the consumer to the platform and then passed on to the provider. In fact, English-speaking Caribbean businesses (which generally benefit from reliable broadband services), are competitively positioned ahead of non-English speaking countries, where anticipated communication challenges between customer and service provider can be a deterrent in selecting a non-English speaking service provider. According to the University of Oxford’s Online Labour Index, the USA buys 49.6% of the services sold on online marketplaces, followed by the United Kingdom (6.9%), Australia (5.9%), Canada (5.4%) and India (5.3%) – so, the major purchasers of online services are English-speaking. Conversely, of the top 20 providers of online services worldwide, only 6 have English as an official language. Additionally, Caribbean services are often more competitively priced than service offerings from North America or the EU. Consider, professional services offered online, for instance, which incudes accounting, legal, and business consulting services. This sector is led by UK-based services providers (at 22%), who tend to be significantly higher-priced than Caribbean professional services providers. Another advantage of embracing the online services revolution is the access to services inputs, which are

Freelancing Online COULD BE RIGHT FOR YOU! 5 FACTS TO CONVINCE YOU THAT

01 Why?

The top reasons for freelancing, according to part-time freelancers is to earn extra money and flexibility of schedule.

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02 How Much?

On average, full-time freelancers are working 36 hours a week and 36% of freelancers earn over USD $75,000/year.

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03 How Does It Compare?

72% of full-time freelancers say that they earned more or the same as they did when they had an employer.

04 They’re Not That Far Ahead!

59% of freelancers started freelancing in the last 3 years.

05 But Keep Up!

The majority of the US workforce will be freelancers by 2027.

The statistics above have been extracted from Freelancing in America commissioned by Upwork and Freelancers Union and is the most comprehensive study of the independent workforce available.

The small size of Caribbean businesses becomes an asset on online marketplaces, as consumers are seeking flexible and nimble service providers willing to adapt to their own requirements and timelines.