Where should you be looking for international growth?
The EU is certainly the easiest option. But it’s also worth looking further field right now. The USA is a viable option to plug in to and getting started on eBay and Amazon is actually rather straightforward.
You will have to be mindful of tax concerns but you won’t need to incorporate as a US entity, despite what some experts say. On eBay and Amazon you’re fine selling as a UK sole trader or Ltd company. Tax concerns are the biggest headache but there are companies out there that can help.
That’s why this ebook we’ve produced with Veeqo will be of interest: Start selling to the US: A checklist for Ecommerce success.
We examine the basics and guide you towards making a solid start as a transatlantic trader.
Goodness knows what will happen with the EU member states when the UK leaves the trading bloc (if we do) after Spring 2019. Is it a soft or hard Brexit? What deals will be in place? Anyone who tells you with any certainty is lying. It’s just a great big unknown.
Certainly Europe represents a good ecommerce trading opportunity right now, what with the weakness of sterling, so it is well worth looking over the Channel still too.
But it could be that the US that is more alluring. Sterling is weak against the Dollar. It could be time to start trading with the USA. Check out the ebook and chase your own American dream.
2 Responses
There is one other aspect of selling to those in the US that isn’t mentioned here nor in the advised downloadable PDF . . this is that to many “American” customers, if your product is distinctly “British”, then they can be very sympathetic to your product and can be an easier customer to sell to.
For many years part of my own leather-working business has found US customers more likely to buy from me, even if the overall price is a bit higher, than those they can buy from in their domestic market. It would be too simple to say they like buying something from the “Old World” but if your product either contains or is marketed as being “British” then you’ll find that with no work from you it becomes more interesting to them. You have to learn to promote it as that.
So, with that “Britishness” in mind, I would never as recommended register my products as a US business . . rather remain that bit separate.
It all depends on what you’re selling really.