MEET THE EXPORT EXPERTS
They’re a new breed of firm using online marketplaces like eBay, Amazon and Facebook to sell their products all round the globe
THEY are agile, tech-savvy and making the best of being British. The country’s new breed of exporters has discovered you do not need decades of international experience to set up successful global businesses.
New figures show that growing numbers of individuals are making a living by selling goods all over the world thanks to technological advances, the internet and reliable delivery networks.
Small businesses selling online on websites such as Amazon and eBay contributed £11billion to the country’s exports in 2016, according to the Global I-Street Report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research.
This figure is set to more than double by 2020 as more individuals realise the potential of running an export business using the internet. According to the report, 61 per cent of these small entrepreneurs are using eBay to sell, while 44 per cent use Amazon.
Other popular selling platforms include Gumtree, Etsy and Facebook, as well as Tmall in China.
A quarter of all small businesses that sell online use a readymade marketplace.
Jonathan Quin, chief executive of money transfer business WorldFirst, says: ‘These marketplaces have made it possible to build an international business from your living room.
They provide a relatively lowrisk gateway to the world.’ The band of new exporters is able to capitalise on the popularity of British brands in overseas markets, particularly in Asia.
Nick Landon is director of Royal Mail Parcels. He says Chinese shoppers are keen to buy British with 55 per cent of Chinese online shoppers buying from the UK and spending an average of £104 a month.
He adds: ‘UK brands are really clicking with China’s shoppers and have a unique advantage as their goods are perceived to be of premium quality. British retailers should feel confident that exporting to China can deliver benefits to their business.
Quin agrees that shoppers abroad like to buy things that are made in Britain. He says: ‘The devaluation of sterling has meant UK-based online sellers have never been more competitive. The ‘Made in Britain’ tag continues to resonate across the globe.’
The export entrepreneurs operate in a variety of markets, ranging from luxury leather goods to sports equipment and baby care. They are also spread all over the country, with Amazon launching a dedicated academy for rural entrepreneurs who want to export at the Rural Entrepreneur Show earlier this month.
The retail giant has findings showing rural businesses which export expect twice as much revenue growth and triple the job growth of domestically focused rivals.
Doug Gurr, UK country manager at Amazon, says: ‘We are seeing thousands of rural small and medium-sized companies use Amazon to export and successfully grow their businesses. So it is great to see the projected export revenue and jobs growth reflected more broadly in our findings. We hope to help unlock the digital potential for rural businesses.’
While small British exporters come in all shapes and sizes, they share characteristics such as producing products for niche markets and understanding how to make the technology available work best for them. Here are some examples of how it can be done.
THE MADE-IN-BRITAIN HANDBAG QUEEN
AS A teenager, Isabelle Ugochukwu longed to buy designer handbags, but struggled to come to terms with the lack of ethics in the supply chains.
Isabelle, now 32, says: ‘With a mother who was French and a father who was Nigerian, I became aware that it was easy for people who did not have any money to be exploited.
‘I started looking at the traceability and supply chains of the brands I was interested in buying from. When I found companies with good ethics, I often did not like the way that the bags looked.’
After years of working in financial technology, Isabelle’s brother sent her an email about a woman who had started a lingerie company making the types of products she wanted, and then sold the business for £15million. Isabelle, from London, says: ‘The title of the email was, “Why don’t you design a handbag yourself?”
‘My family were used to me whingeing about the bags I wanted to buy.’
After a course at the London College of Fashion, Isabelle found a manufacturer in London to make her handbags, and now sells hundreds a year through her business Isabella Queen. Popular models include the Olivia, a large structured bag that sells for £1,500, and the Grace crossbody bag, selling at £1,000.
‘We are mainly an export business,’ she says. ‘Asia is our primary market
with 60 per cent of the bags going to China, Japan and Taiwan.
‘Increasingly Asian customers do not want what is made in their backyard. They know about counterfeiting issues and they are looking for UK brands that are a bit more exclusive.’
Isabelle’s website features British imagery including London double decker buses and parading soldiers in busby ‘bearskin’ hats. She adds: ‘We really push that our bags are British made. We are not just selling bags, we are selling a story.’
Although a staunch Remainer, Isabelle is making the most of looming Brexit. She says: ‘Leather has become more expensive because it is from Italy, but the weak pound makes exporting more favourable. We run a plug-in on our website that allows us to make the most from fluctuating currency exchange rates. I think you have to make the most of it and not stick your head in the sand.
‘We are doing our best to highlight the increased exclusivity of the Made in Britain brand.’ WHEN 65-year-old software developer Bryan Black decided he had had enough of corporate life, he thought exporting would help him to earn a living. He says: ‘I started in April 2016 and knew nothing about online shopping apart from what I did myself on Amazon.
‘I spent the first three months or so going through training and figuring out what I was going to sell because I wanted to create a business, not just have a product and stick it on Amazon.
‘I decided it had got to be something I was at least a bit interested in and would use myself.’
Bryan, from Oxted, Surrey, decided that he would focus on the outdoor sector, and chose a lightweight folding shovel for his first product after scouring marketplaces in China.
He says: ‘It looked like it had good potential because of the average selling price you could command and seasonality was not that strong. After all, you need a shovel in the summer for camping and to keep in the car for shovelling snow in the winter. It is also multifunctional – it has got a little pickaxe, a saw and a bottle-opener on it.’
Bryan currently sells his shovels only in the US through his company Outdoor Anywhere.
He says: ‘I chose America because it is bigger than the UK and Amazon is the biggest platform in that country so I use that.’
Although Bryan has sold more than 8,000 shovels, they never come to the UK. They are shipped to a US warehouse from a manufacturing base in China. He says: ‘This is a 100 per cent exporting business. The only thing that comes to the UK is the money.’
Bryan adds that the business ‘pays all of the bills I need to pay, but is not enough to live on yet’.
But he is currently launching new products, including a self-inflating camping mat. He says: ‘I can work when and where I like. I go on holiday and as long as I have an internet connection I can check and do everything.’