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Key in your market entry strategy is some market research. Of course there are reports on market size and market growth, but often these are general. Specific knowledge on how your product is perceived and what your competitions is, is harder to get but more valuable.
Our local consultant can advise you on the best way to enter the market, based on market and competition research.
The United Kingdom is one of the larger economies of Europe, although not being part of the EU any more.
As of 2024, the United Kingdom’s population is estimated to be approximately 67.96 million. The population has shown a modest growth rate of around 0.35% from the previous year. It has a diverse set of overseas born populations, with the largest contributing countries being Poland, India, and Pakistan.
The UK has a mixed economy, which is the sixth-largest national economy in the world by nominal GDP. It is characterized by a highly developed and market-oriented sector. The largest city and capital is London, which is a major global city and financial center.
Being an island nation, the British have always been very open to trade and while Brexit brings some uncertainties, it also offers opportunities for the United Kingdom to reconnect with markets outside of Europe.
Obviously London is the place to have your flagship store or to find many buyers for luxury products. But for B2B services or general products it may be wise to start in a different city. This way you can test the market and build a good position first with less competition. Let our team advise you.
In the UK, we work from Manchester with experienced business development specialists. Manchester has a long and illustrious history and was at the forefront of the industrial revolution. Today it is a thriving, modern city and the UK’s second city for foreign investment.
In general, there are two ways if you want to sell your products online in this market:
Selling on a platform like Amazon involves listing your products on that marketplace, which allows you to reach a large number of potential customers who are already shopping on the platform. As a seller on Amazon or other platforms, you are responsible for managing your inventory, shipping products to customers, and providing customer service. The platform charges fees for its services, including a referral fee and a fulfilment fee if you choose to use the platform’s fulfilment services.
On the other hand, selling through an online distributor involves partnering with a company that specialises in distributing products to retailers or other sellers. The distributor will take care of the logistics of getting your products to retailers or other customers, such as warehousing, shipping, and handling returns. In exchange for their services, distributors typically charge a fee or take a percentage of the sales. For a detailed comparison of platforms, have a look here.
The best preparation for doing business in any country is visiting it. This way you can experience the culture, check the shops and build your network.
Where it comes to hotels, research shows that if you check these platforms, in 80% of the cases you have the lowest room rates.
If you have a consumer product that you can’t sell directly from your home country to your end customer, you need at least one step in between. This can be a distributor (who also acts as wholesaler or importer), a big retailer directly, or it can be a large web shop. Let’s look at the pro’s and con’s of each option.
For a B2B product that is not a commodity or for customized solutions the story is different. Here sales needs to be done in alignment with the department that actually delivers the service or that determines the price case by case. Also then you have three different options.
As counts for any country: you first have to define the target group that you want to sell to. If these are businesses, then you can reach out directly through emails and targeted advertisements, e.g. on LinkedIn. If this arouses interest and gives a sufficient response rate, then you may have found an easy way to get the market’s attention.
If your target group is more diffuse, or is a consumer group, then you have to rely more on advertising such as on Facebook or Instagram.
With the tooling of our partner Instantly.ai you can define your target group, whether it’s 50 or 50.000 people. Send them a sequence of emails, directly in their inbox, for typically under 10 dollarcents per persoon.
First determine who are the end-users of your product or service. And where do they buy it now? The best way to determine the right entry strategy is to approach these parties. Would they consider your product or service as an alternative? Do they agree with the positioning that you have in mind? And what competitors are they buying from now? These data will help you determine the right strategy.
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