At Echo Barrier we know that better than most. In the last few years we have grown so fast that we have become the market leaders in simple and effective noise barriers, acoustic curtains and fencing – not just in the UK but worldwide.
We now have global distributors of our products in Chicago and Minnesota in the US, Montreal in Canada and in Slovakia, which handles requests from across mainland Europe.
On top of this we also have distributors in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, New Zealand and Sydney, Australia. And our Hong Kong office supply other areas in East Asia with yet another branch in Dubai dealing with requests across the Middle East. Exporting can be profitable for businesses of all sizes. On average, sales grow faster, more jobs are created, and employees earn more than in non-exporting companies. After all, international trade exists because one group or country has a supply of some commodity or merchandise that is in demand by another.
Technological advances have helped make it even easier to do too. A new study from OC&C Strategy Consultants suggests UK retailers could potentially achieve overseas online revenues of £28 billion by 2020. So how do you get your hands on a slice of that pie? Well, our advice is to first chose the right location overseas. Many companies start by building a relationship with the US where there is no language barrier, for example. If you do chose to trade with a country where they speak a foreign language, remember that translation is a very important aspect of how a company is perceived abroad, so translating your website is a good place to start.
Research from the Common Sense Advisory shows 72% of customers abroad would rather buy products that provide information in their own language. Our website boasts a flag system on the top right hand side of the home page, making translation into other languages easy. The number of overseas customers searching for UK brand names has increased by about 46% per year recently, so increasing your chances of being found is also important.
One way to do this is by getting an in-country website domain – for example a .fr domain if you are in France. At Echo Barrier we have found this to be very effective. You also need to consider the logistics of that country in terms of delivering products to the customer and after-care services, such as how you will deal with returns.
We have found that it helps to have men on the ground. Local people with local knowledge help build export success.
In 2012, we opened new offices in the Middle East, America and Canada, with Singapore and Hong Kong then opening earlier in 2013. But we also use a hire management solution, provided by MCS, which helps us handle the growing business and accommodate rising international demand. Essentially it’s a single, centrally administered cloud-based
solution which can be accessed remotely by staff over an internet connection. It tracks all our assets and effectively manages our sales and hire cycles using databases used in the different territories hosted in one central place.
The UK is a major trading nation, able to capitalise on the single market through the European Union, as well as being socially close in terms of culture and language to a number of major international markets – including the US. Exporting provides a business with the scope to expand, reach new markets and diversify. We have found that building up our relationship with our traders worldwide has been hugely beneficial and a natural progression to the rapid growth of the business.