Markets can vary with respect to how easy it is
for new sellers to enter them successfully.
Barriers could be caused by legislation, cultural, technological or political factors.
So it’s important to fully assess them before deciding where to export to.
The best place to start is at home, exploring how your business is
performing within the UK. And there are 4 elements to this.
1. Business profile
Define the profile of your business
and how you position yourself against the competition.
This covers everything from who your customers are
to how much trust they have in your brand.
2. Product positioning and pricing
Examine how you currently position your products or
services against the competition in the UK.
Ask yourself what makes them unique.
Define their unique selling points (USPs)
and how you’re measuring their performance.
How do you set your UK prices?
You should be prepared to assess your export pricing, and revisit when necessary
against factors such as economic conditions, exchange rates
consumer preferences and payment terms.
You can also use a business analysis tool such as the Ansoff Matrix
to help prioritise which of your products are best suited in new geographic markets.
3. Place
Reasons for choosing one market over another need to be clear.
So start by looking at your competition in the UK
and exploring which markets they sell to.
4 Promotion
Finally, check if your UK business model will work in the new market.
For example, if it’s based on short lead times here, will that work abroad?
Once you’ve assessed these 4 areas
use a PEST analysis to identify external factors that could impact your business.
See example of PEST model
Political.
Economical.
Social.
Technological.