German Federal Minister of Economics and Technology Peter Altmaier is taking patronage for the 'Local Commerce Award 2021'. eBay and the German Retail Association (HDE) have announced the competition as part of the 'eBay Your City' (“eBay Deine Stadt”) initiative to award cities that show particularly great commitment to local commerce. The Federal Minister of Economics and Technology Altmaier says: "I am pleased that retailers are being promoted and awarded for their creative ideas and implementations in the area of digitization of their stationary business with the 'Local Commerce Award 2021'. The award winners will inspire many other retail businesses to seize the opportunities of digitization and tackle the associated challenges." Oliver Klinck, Managing Director of eBay Germany, says: "We have been in close exchange with the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) for several months. We share the belief that sustainable digital business models are needed for local retail. This was the initial spark of 'eBay Your City' and we hope to welcome many more cities together with the HDE in the coming months."
“eBay Deine Stadt” enables cities and municipalities to set up local online marketplaces. Here, shoppers can find retail offers from their city and support local retail online. The participating cities are automatically also part of the "Local Commerce Awards 2021", which will be awarded to the three most committed during the “eBay Open” event in the fall of 2021. The jury for the competition includes Bernadette Spinnen (Federal Chairwoman of City- und Stadtmarketing Deutschland e.V.), Stephan Tromp (Deputy Managing Director of HDE), Boris Hedde (Managing Director of the Institute for Retail Research), Meike Fehr (eBay retailer with a shop) and Linde Scheers (CMO eBay Germany). The winning cities are selected on the basis of several criteria, including the number of new sellers in relation to the number of inhabitants of the city and the number of articles sold per seller.