Selling Overseas On-line

Insider held a forum about Selling Overseas On-line on 8 September 2020.

There were lots of different tips from industry experts on the ways to market.

Matt Simmons, the self confessed e-commerce “geek” at Sales Geek, said Amazon was an immediate way to reach people. About 60% of product searches in 2019 were direct on the Amazon website rather than using Google. He also highlighted changes at end of the Brexit transition period.

To expand on this, from 1 January 2021, Amazon’s UK Fulfilment by Amazon (“FBA”) operations will be split from the EU. There will be no European Fufilment Network (“EFN”) and no Pan-European FBA inventory transfers between the UK and EU. Sellers may want to split their inventory and send it to a fulfilment centre in the UK and the EU, so there is sufficient stock either side of the new customs border. Sellers may consider registering on Amazon sites in the EU and if you sell goods to customers in other EU countries, you might also have to register for VAT separately in those EU countries.

Lee Harwood, head of global e-commerce at Faith In Nature, said they initially targeted English speaking markets and then further afield according to costs and logistics. The European Amazon sites were key priorities.

Marcus Mollinga, co-founder YourZooki, said old school QVC was a breakthrough way of selling abroad. His business had registered for VAT in EU countries in anticipation of Brexit.

Tom Dunlop, CEO and founder of Summize, felt there were less barriers for services rather than goods. They can go where the demand is. Where and how to invest is the question. User experience testing in different territories can establish if users there are interacting with the product in the same way that UK users would. Small testing of different local channels flushes out a lot of useful information

Emma Jones, e-commerce and retail sector lead NW - Department for International Trade Department for International Trade, spoke of the wealth of help that is out there from international trade advisors who can liaise with colleagues in country to advise on specific markets to master classes on shipping terms such as the INCO Terms 2020 to one-to-one strategic business advice.  

The Department of International Trade have a selling online overseas tool to find the best marketplaces to showcase your products online. There are special deals negotiated by the government for UK businesses.

The government also run an e-exporting programme providing support.

Emma Jones also highlighted other resources outside the Exporting is Great website (https://www.great.gov.uk/) such as https://opentoexport.com/ supported by the Institute of Export,

The seminar can be found here if you want to watch in full -

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Our team enjoys close relationships with professionals throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australasia and North America. Aaron & Partners have links across the world as part of IAG Global.

With vast expertise, international connections and specialist lawyers, we can act swiftly for clients involved in cross-jurisdictional matters and offer valuable advice.