Nancey Harris, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Vontélle Eyewear, said that Amazon’s educational programs have assisted the company in enhancing its business strategy and adopting more competitive pricing. This statement was made on Amazon’s website.
“As we continued to learn more and take a lot of the educational courses and webinars through Amazon, we started to understand how to build the business better,” said Harris, Co-founder & COO. “That’s when we started to change our prices to become more competitive.”
Amazon has expanded its seller education programs in recent years to aid U.S. small businesses in scaling effectively. The company offers tools such as Seller University, the Amazon Small Business Academy, and the annual Amazon Accelerate conference. These programs provide free resources, including videos, webinars, and articles that cover various topics from listing optimization to advertising strategies. By focusing on reducing barriers to entry, Amazon positions these resources as a cornerstone of its support for entrepreneurs, connecting learning directly to execution opportunities.
In 2024, more than 1.5 million independent sellers engaged with Seller University training to optimize and grow their businesses. The program now spans 35 learning categories and is offered in over 20 languages, reflecting Amazon’s efforts to reach diverse seller groups. This scale underscores how education has become a mainstream tool in marketplace participation, particularly for U.S. small businesses, according to Amazon’s 2024 Small Business Empowerment Report.
Amazon reports that sellers who use its New Seller Guide during their first 90 days achieve, on average, six times more sales in their first year compared with those who do not. The program offers step-by-step guidance on branding, fulfillment, and pricing paired with promotional credits to accelerate growth. This highlights how early adoption of structured training can significantly impact revenue trajectories.
Harris is the co-founder and COO of Vontélle Eyewear, where she manages operations, product design, and marketing strategy. Before co-founding the brand, she worked in leadership roles at Viacom/BET and Black Enterprise as well as in finance and management positions with New York City agencies and hospitals. Her expertise spans brand building, revenue growth, and budgeting which she now applies to scaling an inclusive eyewear company.
Vontélle Eyewear was founded in 2020 as a Black women-owned luxury eyewear brand specializing in size-inclusive frames with designs inspired by African, Caribbean, and Latin diaspora textiles. The company emphasizes inclusivity by offering wider bridges, longer temples, and larger lenses to serve underrepresented consumers in the eyewear market. Its mission is to “help the world see more clearly confidently and beautifully” while celebrating cultural heritage according to Vontélle Eyewear’s official site.
