9 Things to Consider Before Exporting Internationally

When a business looks to grow its market, exporting goods can seem like a simple way to expand its international presence. But similar to setting up overseas operations, exporting your products can create significant challenges: differing tax schemes, unique cultures and more can make even those countries that seem “easy” to export to quite complicated.

While exporting can be daunting, the chance to dip one’s toes in the international marketplace and the promise of new revenue streams makes the task very appealing to companies worldwide. A recent blog post from UKTI offers the following suggestions for questions to ask yourself before making the decision to export:

1. Will you need to adapt your product offer to suit overseas markets?
2. Are there any regulatory requirements you need to take into account?
3. How will you select the most suitable markets to begin your journey?
4. What effect will different languages and culture have on your ways of working?
5. Will you be able to find customers directly or will you need to have other channels or routes to market, using agents or distributors for example?
6. How important will it be to have ready availability of stock in country to satisfy demand and will you need to have access to resource on the ground to provide after sales service?
7. Will you need to change your promotion planning?
8. How will you protect your intellectual property?
9. How will you get paid?  Always remember it’s a gift until you’re paid!

This is an excerpt from the post “Exporting Challenge” that originally appeared on the UK Trade and Investment blog. UKTI is a government organization which helps companies rise to the exciting opportunities and challenges that globalization offers.