{"id":6649,"date":"2020-12-08T09:10:01","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T09:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=6649"},"modified":"2025-04-23T09:57:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:57:20","slug":"why-more-british-companies-should-be-looking-to-export","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/why-more-british-companies-should-be-looking-to-export\/","title":{"rendered":"Why more British companies should export to China"},"content":{"rendered":"

In China, the world\u2019s largest e-commerce and retail market, British brands (including many SMEs) made \u00a3367.5m in last month\u2019s 11.11 shopping festival, and that opportunity continues to grow. David Lloyd, General Manager UK, Netherlands & Nordics at Alibaba Group explains how<\/h2>\n

Alibaba recently surveyed 1,000 small businesses across the UK, finding that only one in five plan to export in the next 12 months. With technology making it easier to sell overseas and strong international demand for British goods, small businesses have a real opportunity to look beyond the UK – and Europe – to fuel their recovery and growth.<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s 5.9 million small businesses have long been considered the foundation of its economy. As of October this year, they employ 48% of the total British workforce and account for more than a third (36.3%) of its private sector turnover.<\/p>\n

The Covid-19 pandemic has played the nation\u2019s small businesses a particularly tough hand this year. We\u2019ve seen 80% of them experience a drop in revenue, with two out of three small firms saying they expect trading to get worse still during the months ahead.<\/p>\n

We must encourage and empower small businesses to look beyond the borders of the UK \u2013 and Europe \u2013 for growth<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If we\u2019re going to reverse this trend, we must encourage and empower small businesses to look beyond the borders of the UK \u2013 and Europe \u2013 for growth. China\u2019s retail market has already bounced back to pre-pandemic levels: consumers are spending confidently and shopping even more than they were prior to the pandemic, and China is the only major economy expected to grow this year. Chinese consumption is going to be a serious driver of the global recovery \u2013 and UK SMEs can benefit.<\/p>\n

Our latest research, conducted in October 2020 amongst 1,000 SMEs across the UK, reveals that many small businesses are unsure about how they can tap into the overseas trading opportunity. More than a quarter are telling themselves they\u2019re \u2018too small to export,\u2019 while a fifth think there\u2019s \u2018no demand for their products outside Europe.\u2019 In fact, just 21% of the British small businesses we sampled said they are planning to sell their products or services overseas during the next 12 months.<\/p>\n