Over the last few months we at ParcelWorks have been attending all the various ‘going global’ events which sprouted from the Government’s push for exporting for growth.
UK Trade & Investment have been attending and hosting multiple events across the country throughout 2014 in a bid to encourage UK businesses to export more. Naturally we fully support this endeavour.
As ParcelWorks helps businesses to ship internationally we have been engaging at these events, meeting industry partners, retailing clients and 3rd party suppliers. We have met a whole host of businesses, some just starting out in eCommerce, and some that have had a UK presence for a while but are looking to venture into the international market place.
Having attended ExCel events and smaller events hosted by industry consultants on behalf of the UKT&I it is clear that no one is taking exactly the same approach to eCommerce. Some are using market place, some are multi-channel, some are pure play, some are really pushing Omni-retailing and some are just establishing a web presence in a niche market.
The only thing they all had in common was the realisation that international e-tailing (for want of a better word) is definitely the future.
The latest facts and figures on international eCommerce show exactly why everyone has been getting behind this programme. The UK currently has a £720m online trade surplus and by 2020 it is estimated that over 40% of UK sales will be international. That 40% is potentially worth £28bn to the economy and even the smallest retailer can benefit from this.
It is estimated 87% of online searches from outside the UK go to small and medium sized retailers with only 13% going to the large retailers. This is great news for the entrepreneur and SME.
Shipping to the US is still a number one postal destination outside of Europe given its top position in the world for number of households with disposable income above $300,000 per annum. However, China, Australia, Brazil & Russia are all rapidly expanding destinations to export to.
ParcelWorks can ship to all these destinations regardless whether you are an eBay seller, a SME retailer or multi-channel retailers with national presence on the high street.
We will continue to attend, and hopefully in the near future host, these types of events as we fully support the British businesses in their quest to going global.