Exeter students win £5,000 in Amazon Campus Challenge

Two students from University of Exeter have won £5,000 in prize money and $250 in Amazon Web Services (AWS) credits via the AWS Educate Programme after taking part in Amazon UK’s first ever Campus Challenge competition.

The winning team includes Ben Fleming (22), Quinn Leatherbarrow-Stokes (23) who are studying at University of Exeter and their friend, Nikolaus Porsch (23) who is studying at City University London.

The Amazon Campus Challenge offers students the opportunity to work with real companies and start-ups to help them grow their business on Amazon and reach customers around the world. The objective is for students to work alongside businesses to build an e-commerce strategy, launch them on Amazon and successfully grow their online business.

The team looked at the best-selling items on Amazon’s online store and spotted a high level of demand for craft beer. Inspired by the opportunity to partner with a business in their hometown of Stroud, they teamed up with organic craft beer specialist Stroud Brewery.

The partnership proved so successful that two of the team members have teamed up with a number of other craft breweries to support their online sales and created their own business, QWERTY Beer Box.

Quinn Leatherbarrow-Stokes said: “The Campus Challenge was a great opportunity to work with businesses big and small, which isn’t an experience university necessarily provides. We’re especially pleased that we got to help the brewery during lockdown when sales would have otherwise struggled and were able to reach customers all over the country.”

The experience taught the young entrepreneurs a lot about business, according to Quinn. He added: “Since the competition ended, Nikolaus and I have gone all-in with our QWERTY Beer Box start-up, and Ben has scaled his own business selling accessories on Amazon. We’re thrilled to be helping consumers experience authentic craft beer from all over the UK.”

Tens of thousands of UK-based small and medium-sized businesses sell their products in Amazon’s stores across the world and Amazon provides practical support and services to help them grow. More than 60% of UK businesses selling on Amazon export to customers all over the world. In 2019 they achieved total export sales of more than £2.75bn and supported more than 85,000 job opportunities in the UK.

Find out more about the Amazon Campus Challenge.

Congratulating the team on its success, Simon Donegan, UK Head of Seller Services, Amazon, said: “Discovering and inspiring the next generation of e-commerce superstars is something we’re passionate about, and it’s this passion that led to the creation of the Amazon Campus Challenge. The competition offers a great opportunity for students to test and develop their business skills in a real-life environment and we are delighted the team had a rewarding experience.”

“Students can offer so much to a small business – a fresh perspective, new ideas and, of course, additional resource,” added Anne Kiem, Executive Director, Small Business Charter, an award for the UK’s world-class business schools. “In total there are over 350,000 students studying business in the UK and 33 of the UK’s business schools are recognised through the Small Business Charter for expertise in supporting small businesses and student enterprise. The Amazon Campus Challenge has been a wonderful opportunity for these students to further apply and develop their skills in real-world business settings, which for many is a core element of their degree course.”