Leicester textiles firm signs Latin American deal

Leicester company Universal Textiles is the first British business to benefit from a major new agreement between UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) and the e-commerce site in Latin America, MercadoLibre.

The new partnership, which is the first agreement promoting cross border trade between a government and an electronic marketplace, is designed to bring the platform to a wide range of British e-tailers seeking a direct route for their products into Latin America.

It is part of UKTI’s E-Exporting programme, supporting UK retailers and brands to target their products to millions of global consumers via e-commerce.

Universal Textiles is the first of more than 70 businesses to join MercadoLibre, which has been dubbed the Latin American equivalent of e-Bay.

With a presence in 12 countries – including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Mexico – the site has 145 million registered users and clocks up some 2.5 purchases per second, totalling US$ 7.2bn in sales in 2015.

The cross border trade programme will allow British companies to sell via the MercadoLibre website and deliver products to the site’s UK distribution hub. More than 70 other British e-tailers will also join the new platform from late May 2016.

Founded in 1986, Universal Textiles specialises in the e-tail of high quality clothing at discount prices. The new agreement means the company’s products will gradually be present in twelve countries in Latin America, with access to 91% of the region’s population and 96% of its wealth.

Sales director Ravi Karia said: “Here at Universal Textiles, we are delighted to have launched on MercadoLibre in South America with the help of UKTI.

“As a business, we are always looking to trade in new countries and continents and MercadoLibre has provided us with the opportunity to sell in a large, exciting market which still has huge growth potential.

“We have seen a good initial uptake of orders and so far have been able to negotiate any logistical issues well. We look forward to building our relationship with MercadoLibre over the coming months and see a bright future trading in South America.”

Marina Diaz Ibarra, MercadoLibre’s manager for Argentina, Chile and Peru added: “We are happy to be UK Trade & Investment’s partner of choice in Latin America. This pioneering public-private agreement will bring quality British products to our users.”

Ian Harrison, UKTI regional director in the East Midlands, said: “It is genuinely exciting to see the world’s attention on Leicester once again with this new agreement for Universal Textiles.

“We hope many more companies will now be able to promote their products to Latin America’s 345 million Internet users.”