Brexit makes New Zealand’s Trade Me ever more attractive

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Whether you’re opposed to or in favour of Brexit, it’s going to happen in the near future and it’s likely that in a couple of years time we’ll have cut our current ties with the EU, hopefully forged a new relationship with the Single Market and the country will be free to pursue our own trade deals around the world.

We’ve already seen the President Elect, Donald Trump put the UK at the front of the queue for a trade deal with the US, now it’s the turn for the Prime Minister of New Zealand to throw his country’s hat in the ring and indicate they want a speedy deal with the UK.

You might wonder how this affects you as a small independent trader, but things like de minimus thresholds which allow goods to be imported free from customs duties work in our favour whilst applying punitive tariffs to certain types of goods make our products more expensive so hinder ecommerce.

Over the next two years it’s worth keeping an eye on which countries are keen to do trade deals with the UK and re-evaluating the marketplaces in these countries as opportunities for expansion.

New Zealand’s Trade Me Marketplace

Trade MeIn New Zealand the incumbent marketplace is Trade Me, with around 3.6 million active users. That’s an impressive 80% of New Zealand’s 4.5 million population all buying and selling on Trade Me.

Due to relatively high prices in New Zealand, retailers from the UK are almost guaranteed to be competitively priced and, although the other side of the world, especially with the current low value of Sterling. Shipping to New Zealand is relatively easy and surprisingly fast.

Returns on Trade Me are low, mainly because New Zealanders are so used to using Trade Me that if they buy something which turns out to be unsuitable they’ll more than likely just resell it on Trade Me. We heard of retailer who see return rates as low as 0.75% on Trade Me sales.

If you’re a fashion retailer, Trade Me should be of particular interest. Whilst Trade Me is a general marketplace (they even sell live sheep!), 17% of all Trade Me sales come from fashion and accessories categories.

Retailers from outside of New Zealand and Australia need special approval to sell, but Trade Me provides dedicated in-house support and account management to help get you started. Once live, retailers have the opportunity to open their own branded store on Trade Me.

If you are interested in selling on the marketplace, you can contact Trade Me through their website. Beat the rush, sign up today and establish yourself ahead of the competition.

5 Responses

  1. according to the sign up form this appears to be only open to sellers in New Zealand and Australia. Please clarify

  2. That link only states that they allow international sellers, but gives no option to sign up. The general ‘register’ form only offers the two countries as mentioned above.

  3. ChannelAdvisor works well with TradeMe- my fastest integration ever. Post is usually quick and the customers are unfailingly pleasant.

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