Exporting to the EU: A Traders Story with Something Different Wholesale

Speaker A: 00:00:00

Hello everybody and welcome to a special episode of the Horizon podcast.

Not only am I joined by one of our fantastic regular contributors in the shape of Norma Foster, but we're also joined by Anthony David, the commercial director at Something Different Wholesale.

With help from Norma and Anthony, we're going to explore Something Different Wholesales first steps into the EU market, the roadmap that they have developed and adopted to help their launch, and any tips that they may have for businesses, hopefully such as your own, who are looking to trade with the eu. Enjoy the show. So firstly, thank you very much to both of you, you joining me today.

I'm excited to have both of you here and hear more about your experiences and I think really delve into how other businesses can, can benefit from, from those experiences as well. But Anthony, if or now, I want to jump straight in with. I hope it's not too much of a difficult question. We can't escape that.

Trading with the EU has become more difficult since the EU exit. I think most of the businesses we speak to, they would cite at least one of these kind of issues.

So whether it's additional paperwork, so whether that's kind of regulatory and compliance or the customs documentation, otherwise it could be the costs. So that could be costs associated with those regulatory compliance requirements or simply your customs duty.

But also we've been hearing from businesses about inconsistencies sometimes between different countries and how they're handling the Trade and Cooperation agreement and the trade between the UK and the eu.

now you've been trading since: 1999

Speaker B: 00:02:33

ght. We've been trading since: 1999

But particularly since Brexit, we deprioritize that that element of the business. We focused on the UK market, developing a sales team and bigger key accounts that give us some natural growth over that period of time.

It's probably a post Covid world that's made us really focus in on Europe. Through the COVID period, we grew dramatically.

d. So that took us to kind of: 2021

And from a business perspective, we were then looking at where do we feel our next best opportunity is?

We were seeing growing demand for our products in Europe, but the customers who were buying from us were, as you just mentioned, not having a fantastic experience trying to buy our products. Either it was a headache for us or it was.

It was more often than not a headache for them where they were having to take responsibility of being an importer when they might be, you know, a shop in Belgium or in France. So they wouldn't necessarily be set up in that way. So that was the.

Yeah, that was the time where we felt actually this is our next biggest opportunity and that's where we need to focus in the business.

Speaker A: 00:04:18

And I like seeing it as an opportunity still relevant, I think. And like you said, it still is an opportunity for people. And I think that's kind of a perfect thing to start on and highlight, really.

But I want to touch on what really want to delve into is the how so how you've gone about kind of making this into a reality. And I know this is where Norma comes in as well.

So between the two of you, could you just kind of give us a little bit of a brief outline as to how you started turning this ambition into your route map and the key stages along the way?

Speaker C: 00:04:57

Well, I had the pleasure of having Anthony attend one of my workshops at the Export Wales Conference last March. And he came up to me afterwards and started talking very excitedly about this great EU program that they're developing.

And I'm thinking, wow, it sounds amazing. And the more we talked, the more I got the impression that they were very focused and very driven and had some great plans.

And we spent the best part of last year talking about the how and how they're going to do this. And it was very much a pilot project approach on a phased basis. And just their enthusiasm and their focus and attention to detail really struck me.

So one of the reasons why I asked Anthony, in the article that we wrote for Horizon magazine, to ask Anthony to set out his steps around the how and how they've actually gone about doing this.

Speaker B: 00:06:09

Yeah, I mean, we, we, we spent a lot of time before we took any steps towards this project thinking about every possible hurdle that we might come across.

And we'd obviously heard of, of lots of the issues since Brexit that our customers have faced or we'd face trying to move our products into, into the eu. So we were aware of lots of things that would crop up along the way.

And our ultimate goal was clear that we wanted to just give our customers in the EU a kind of a pre Brexit experience buying from us, but in a much more complicated world that we're in now. And so we, we kind of broke down the project into a few different sections.

Thinking about it from a logistics point of view in terms of couriers, paperwork, clearing the goods, moving the goods to, from our warehouse here in Swansea into the eu. We looked at it from a, from the finance perspective.

You know, the VAT rules, the duty costs, the clean rooms costs and the profitability of doing this project because it's more expensive now to move goods from UK into Europe than it was pre Brexit.

And then the exciting stuff that comes later on to the sales and marketing plan where always right, you know, although that's the kind of the shiny exciting part of the project that you just want to get your teeth stuck into.

We were disciplined enough to think, well, actually we just need to prove that the model is working correctly first before we actually open it out to customers and really advertise it.

e decision at the back end of: 2022

And that enabled us to do the clearance on ourselves. So on behalf of the customer, manage all the paperwork, pay the duty costs, apply the VAT rules wherever they are.

And, you know, that's something I would definitely suggest that people take advice on because it's extremely complicated to make sure you're applying the correct rules and information on your invoices for customers, depending on what they are. So we clear the goods into Netherlands and then use a courier to deliver those products onto our customers across Europe.

And yeah, it's certainly been a learning curve, but we just thought we need to break it down to as basic a principle as possible and just make sure that the model that we understood and believe that would work does before rolling that out on a bigger scale.

Speaker A: 00:09:18

Obviously you'll probably agree, Norma, from speaking to businesses, it's quite refreshing to hear about the diligence and doing the comprehensive research and having that model in place and kind of being proactive rather than just being reactive and saying, oh, I've suddenly got interest from Germany, quick, let's, let's ship that out this week. What would you say, Anthony?

I suppose on that proactive side, what benefits have you seen of being more structured in your approach rather than having that reactory approach?

Speaker B: 00:10:04

I suppose the biggest benefit is we've been able to keep a lid on any issues that cropped up because even though the project was well planned out and we took advice from lots of different people, we engaged with a number of couriers that we have a partnership with now.

There are still been things that have come out and surprised us as we've run through this trial period, but in the way that we approached it by one customer at a time, then a group of customers at a time, as those issues have arisen, they've only impacted that one customer or a small number of customers.

And I think that's, that's really helped us to iron out those issues and really manage, not damage limitation, but just manage those issues as they've cropped up.

And certainly the customers that were in that trial period were, they were long standing, existing loyal customers who were happy to be part of the trial and therefore we had a little bit awe leeway with them if something were to crop up that would cause a bit of a delay on the delivery or an extra cost to us.

Speaker A: 00:11:19

For example, I like how that kind of partnership bit that you're mentioning and obviously you had the partnership there with your long standing customers who had that level of tolerance and understanding but also your different partners and relationships that you have over here and you can't just do it all by yourself. So I suppose like Norma coming into you, how did you help build this plan and structure what Anthony and the team were looking to do?

Speaker C: 00:11:54

I think what, and I'll ask Anthony for his feedback on this as well.

I think what Anthony's saying is you're bringing in people who've got that expertise and that experience and I've been, been doing my work for the last 15, 20 years around international and I've had the pleasure and privilege of working with lots of companies and testing out different approaches and having the pleasure and privilege of seeing how they work and what works and what doesn't work.

So I think it's bringing all of that practical hands on experience, you know, thanks to many companies that I'm working with and then bringing that in when needed, but also being the voice of reason, I think having a sounding board.

We've had a few sessions since the beginning of this year, just double checking things, bringing different specialists together, having that impartial, independent sounding board, so to speak, where you can test things, where I can bring in some challenges in terms of, well, there are Other options here. Have you thought this through my experiences, et cetera. So I think all of that is very, very valuable.

Anthony, would you agree, or is there anything that I missed there?

Speaker B: 00:13:16

Yeah, no, 100%. And I think that's key for us as well is taking on as much advice as possible from as many different sources.

So Norma's been great to kind of tie some of this feedback together for us with her experience of helping other companies internationalize their businesses.

You know, I would recommend getting in touch with your local department of business and Trade because they have some really knowledgeable people there that can help you answer some questions or if not, they could, they could reach out to others.

We also spoke to other businesses in, in the area that have, that have developed kind of international strategies and learned a little bit from, from their approach and then also, you know, talking to the couriers. The courier that we're using has a model that is suited for the approach that we've decided to take with sales to the eu.

So it's a whole piece of software that's geared up for companies who want to move the goods in the way that we want to move them. So that's advice from lots of different places.

But I think we, we took that time to have those conversations, then mull it over sense, check it, you know, rerun it and, and then think, okay, well this is the model that works for our business.

Speaker A: 00:14:42

I know from kind of speaking to Norma and the article that between two you put together for Horizon in the magazine, you've got that plan, you've got that structure and so far from my understanding, done very good job of keeping to that.

And I know from kind of business yourself and you see other businesses doing it, sometimes when something's going well, it can be easy to try and maybe skip a step or breeze over a step and almost try and run before you can walk. So how have you as a business manage that and kept yourself disciplined, I suppose to make sure you are fully seeing out each step of your roadmap.

Speaker B: 00:15:28

So yeah, we have a fair bit of discipline in terms of planning in the business anyway.

And that's something that the approach that we've used across all projects over a number of years where we have kind of a three year vision and we break that down into a one year plan and each, each of those one year plans has a quarterly version which is in detail. So every, almost every task that we, we're going to run in the business for that quarter is, is on that plan.

The department, department heads have this and then they will, they're overseen by one of the senior managers. So everything's quite tightly kind of managed. But equally everyone has a visibility of each other's plans. So we try and share what.

Because what the marketing team are doing like, well, impact the operational team and the warehouse guys and vice versa. So we had that structure anyway and it was just a case of making sure that we stuck to it.

And when inevitably new challenges came up that we hadn't thought of that quarter ahead, we can just rejig our priorities and just get that agreement between the team to say we need to fix this operational issue before we can start talking to customers about being part of the trial, for example.

Speaker C: 00:16:55

I would agree. I think planning is such a critical part of this and it's good to have that longer term vision and a three year and a one year plan.

But actually bringing it down to that detailed focus in the moment means that you're keeping everybody on board. There's no comfort zone where you think, oh, I've got a whole year to do this, it's great and people get a bit more relaxed.

So it helps you maintain that focus and keep things very present and proactive.

Speaker A: 00:17:27

And from speaking to normally, we're recording this couple of weeks into January. So you're right at the beginning of that 20, 20, 25 plan.

I suppose Anthony and I know that one thing you're now looking at and moving on to is the internationalization of your website and setting up domain names.

So what lessons have there been to date in that aspect and kind of what have you learned or maybe kind of didn't anticipate on that part of the journey?

Speaker B: 00:18:02

Yeah, that's been very interesting part of the process.

And again, we've spent quite a bit of time before we've done any work on any new websites to make sure that we don't run the risk of doing anything to negatively impact our co.uk business because that is what's got us to the point that we're at now. And that's, you know, making sure that our, our SEO, our search engine optimization isn't impacted by having other websites.

The other learning, I guess, or big learning is, is actually the, the operational aspect because, you know, having in other websites or other websites to manage actually within the department and the sales and marketing department there is a lot more or physical work because you're having to update two websites with information, different content, you know, different adverts, different promotions, different email content, for example. So that's probably not something that we were Fully kind of aware of before we started to have these conversations.

And now that we are, we're just looking within the department whether we can actually pick up that extra work with the resource that we've got, or do we need to bring someone in and actually make a bit of an investment to make sure that we are giving both websites enough attention that we don't risk what's happened@Monday.co.uk, because we've got all these other things that we need to be doing on the new international side.

Speaker C: 00:19:44

Anthony, I think it would be interesting as well for you to explain a little bit about how many products are in your product range.

I know, for example, that 300 of your current products are restricted in terms of the EU because the compliance and certification aspects of it is so tricky.

So how have you gone about this process of actually selecting the product range for the EU for different countries and how you've got 25,000 retailers globally, so how is that whole structure set up and how are you managing that?

Speaker B: 00:20:21

een important to the UK since: 2005

Last year the announcement was made that GPSR was, was coming in. So every, every product essentially had to have a document, a company in it, to show that it's safe for sale in the, in the eu.

We've over three and a half thousand products in our range.

So that was, that was a bit of a wow moment, thinking, well, how on earth are we actually going to get to the point where these products are safe and compliant to be sold in the uk? And it was evident to us that we needed to really have a focus on this in the business.

So we made the decision to invest in a, in an additional person to look after our compliance. And Stacy came into the business through last year and that was her sole focus.

December: 2024

So that was, yeah, that, that, that's been part of this, this whole planning project.

And then secondly, we've, we're working with a, with a particular courier and before we started moving products through them, we spent quite a lot of time looking at the product range that we had and for them to check our commodity codes to make sure that they were happy and comfortable to move those products and declare them on our behalf in the Netherlands.

And as Nola mentioned, there were a number that from their perspective it was either too complicated or it was too, too challenging for them to move those products.

So we, we did some work on our website which allowed us for now with our Kodak uk if a customer comes on from Europe there's that section of 300, 350 products that they are unable to see and therefore unable to buy but a UK IP address would see those products because they're perfectly compliant for the UK market.

That was, that was, yeah, that was definitely a, a big learning and also an investment but essentially we're trying to replicate our UK business overseas. So we, we appreciate for us to be able to do that there's gotta be investment in terms of people, website development, so on, so forth.

Speaker A: 00:23:23

I sorry.

And it's, it's brilliant how when you've got so many products, such a range to appreciate the complexity that comes with that and the additional investment you're saying in the resources but the way that you've gone ahead and you structured that and you've done that and made sure that it's still possibility to export to Europe and reality I think that's really good angles.

That's something that a lot of businesses can learn from and show that kind of, no matter how many products you got, how big your range is, if you're willing to put in those, those resources it's still, you can still make it a possibility.

Speaker C: 00:24:13

I think the, for me the other interesting aspect is the step by step approach that something different wholesalers taking towards the website internationalization. Anthony, would you like to just explain a little bit about how you're approaching that in terms of the structure for different countries?

Speaker B: 00:24:35

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

So we've had several conversations with NOMA plus our website developers to kind of to understand what the best approach is that we could use to develop those international websites. Because the ultimate aim is to have multiple sites for multiple countries with their own language.

But actually breaking that down into well, what's, what's actually the first step from our standard CO UK site that we have now.

The advice that we've taken and the approach that we're we're going to take is, is developing initially a a.com website which would essentially be a landing page for customers and then that landing page would redirect them to initially ie because that's. That's one of our biggest European markets is Ireland.

It's, it's an area actually we've sales have shrunk since Brexit whilst the business otherwise has doubled in size. So we, we see that as a, you know, a really decent size opportunity. It's also in the same language.

So actually the delivery of that website should be, should be faster than some of the feature ones that have to be translated and that, that, that stepped approach to a.com and a.ie and the technical aspect, which is not my area of expertise I must admit, but making sure that Google in the UK essentially and Google in Ireland know that these are separate websites, the content is not duplicated which could be a risk for impact to our.co.uk website and it should then give us really good visibility not only on google.co.uk, but Google IE, which we're hoping then will, will, will drive our, our growth in the, in the Irish market going forward.

And using that approach does mean that we have to continue to update the Codec UK site and then the column forward slash IE when we do the next site which might be.from.de yes, we have to do the translations but the updates are done on a.com and they run through to every site that's connected to that, that URL. So we update France and Germany and Ireland all at the same time.

And once, once that's established, we've, we've, we've done a number of those sites, then the ultimate long term goal would be to move our co.uk under that same structure and ultimately then that gives us the saving of having to update the two sites.

But the risk around doing that first is too great and as I said earlier, we want to protect that co.uk traffic and business as much as possible whilst we're looking for the growth to come from the. Com European country websites.

Speaker C: 00:27:52

So I'm really happy because I think that's such a good compromise because if you're transitioning a.co.uk to a.com, because a.co.uk, just isn't visible across the globe generally it's intended to work really well in the uk, not internationally.

You don't want to affect that transition and then have your inquiries and traffic to the website drop because you have to then build that back up over a period of time.

So this approach I'm really happy with because it just allows a good amount of risk mitigation whilst just developing for the future and being able to affect that transition down the line.

Speaker A: 00:28:36

And I think it's great that you've been, I suppose so, Penny saying, yeah, holding hands up, this has been a challenge, it's been difficult, or we've had to overcome these different barriers. But has there been anything along the way so far that has surprised you on this journey?

Speaker B: 00:28:56

Yeah, I guess, I guess a couple of aspects. What.

When we, when we began advertising the model, we were hopeful that customers would like it because we're essentially saying, you can buy from us. The pricing is what you see on the website. There's no extra costs and you'll receive your goods within a week.

But actually, the speed of the uptake of that offer and our growth of sales for our EU customers, bearing in mind at the moment we're just communicating with our existing and our lapsed customers, has been phenomenal. And in Q4, it represented 20% of our sales and that was up from 14% of our sales at the beginning of last year.

So that was, you know, that's definitely a pleasant surprise, but I guess on the, on the other hand, surprised and with hindsight, maybe we could have, we could have understood at the start, but actually how long everything takes, particularly when you're dealing with some of the big couriers, behemoths, and trying to find the right person in the right department that can make the decision to help us. That just seems to take a lot longer than we would like it to be.

So, yeah, I think, yeah, patience and perseverance are key with this project because as well planned as you can be, there will always be something that will come and surprise you and you have to deal with that and be able to then reprioritize what you're working on, maybe move your timeline, select the, you know, our trial period ended up being more like four months when we were hoping it was going to be six weeks. But that was, you know, that, that, that was the right decision to make.

But ultimately, you know, give yourselves enough time that nothing's rushed and everything's well.

Speaker A: 00:30:59

Thought through on the, like, career points, that's something we talk to a lot of businesses about, is, you know, couldn't just recommend one. All depends on your business and what you want to do. But the whole reason that they work is that they have their own structure.

And no matter what you do as a business, you're not going to amend or adapt their structure. They're not going to change for you. So as you found out, you've got to shop around a little bit.

And it sounds like you've been able to find one who their model fits with what you've set up. And that's kind of the best way to go about it.

Thinking just about other businesses, how they've approached it may be kind of a question that some of our listeners might have is have you ever considered the idea of opening up a warehouse in Europe and holding stock there directly in, let's say, Netherlands and dealing with your EU customers from there? Is that something that's ever been on the table or what did you personally see as the pros and cons of that?

If, if it was something that was discussed?

Speaker B: 00:32:12

Yeah, we, we certainly discussed it at the beginning of the project because that is one, one alternative route to the EU and it is something that a couple of our competitors have done.

However, because of the size of our product range and the complications around trying to manage two, two, two lots of stock in two different locations, we certainly felt at the beginning of this project it wasn't the right avenue for us.

It was something that we thought, okay, well if, if, if you know, our turnover grows to a certain level, maybe that's something that comes in kind of three to five years. We did also talk to several three PLs who would hold your stock for you, distribute on your behalf.

So we could ship it directly from the factory to Germany or whatever it may be, and then they would, they would send it on. But again, because of our complexity of the size of the range, it was just not viable for us.

I think if you had a business that was selling 10 or 50 or even 100 core products, that might be a viable way to kind of really test the market in the eu. But for us it wasn't viable. It was also quite costly in terms of the actual money that they charge you for storage and for picking and for packing.

And of course, if something stops selling, what do you do with it? You know, that, that, that's a real complication and we're fortunate where we are.

We've, we're in a, not the prettiest but an old industrial warehouse and during, during the COVID period we, we bought this building and the one next door. So we've kind of future proofed ourselves in terms of size and space to grow.

So I think from, from our perspective, the benefits of managing one lot of stock far outweighs the, the kind of the pros of having stock closer to the customer in Europe and the speed of delivery from the couriers. Here it is kind of three days, the Netherlands and five days to most other European countries.

And even if you had a warehouse in Europe, it wouldn't be a lot quicker than that. So I think that's. That that finalized it for us.

ering as part of our plan for: 2025

And if it sells directly to the eu, then we only pay the duties at the point of entry into the eu, we never pay it into the uk, so at the moment we're obviously paying it as we import. You're doing a full duties. Yeah, exactly. And post Brexit, that is one of the things that's become a lot simpler historically.

It would be if you're hosing alcohol or things like that. But it's actually a much more straightforward process to become a bonded facility than it was in the past.

So that's something we're looking at as part of our plan for this year.

Speaker A: 00:35:33

So I suppose just thrown up to and open to both of you, what would you say are the most important lessons on the journey that you've had so far? What were the most important lessons that you've gone through?

And the top bits that for any other business you would say, no, you've got to do this, you've got to do X properly or you've got to go through this certain process. What would they be?

Speaker C: 00:35:59

I think there's one thing I'd love to mention which we haven't actually even touched on in this conversation, and it's such an important factor for your customers in the EU, where 81% of them feel that sustainability is a really important item on the agenda and it influences their buying decision. And 70% of prospective customers tell us that they are prepared to pay a higher price if you can demonstrate really good sustainable credentials.

Anthony, could you just explain the steps that you've taken in terms of that People Planet profit agenda and, you know, the whole sustainability perspective?

Speaker B: 00:36:43

Yeah, sure.

So we, we as a, as a, as a business, you know, like many others, have this as part of our ongoing conversations with, with our planning and we benchmarked our carbon footprint a few years ago and do that as a, as an annual process and look at initiatives that will help reduce that over time.

Two or three years ago, we, we installed solar panels on both of our warehouse roofs and that produces around 70% of the energy that we use in the business. And the rest of the energy we actually put back into the grid and then they, they, they pay us in return for that.

And believe it or not, Swansea is one of the highest yield areas of the country for sunshine. You, you would not believe it, but it is true.

Speaker C: 00:37:33

That's an astonishing fact for the day, Anthony. I didn't imagine that.

Speaker B: 00:37:38

Yeah, we also, we also made the decision about 18 months ago to remove bubble wrap completely from our packaging that goes out, back out to customers. So we use a kind of a paper alternative, hexi wrap.

We reuse as many boxes as we possibly can in the business, either for, you know, shred in to pack out the parcels or if they're strong enough to actually just relabel and send straight out. And the ones that we do have to make new, then those are used with, those are made with recycled materials.

And then the manufacturing element, we're looking as much as possible to reduce any plastic or polystyrene that's used in the packaging of our products.

And it is challenging because we sell a number of ceramic products and actually it's most important to deliver that to the customer in one piece as possible. But there are trials this year with alternatives to some of those materials. So it's definitely at the forefront of our thinking and our planning.

And, yeah, I think it's an essential part of business these days.

Speaker C: 00:38:57

I would agree completely. And I think to actually promote that on your website and in your marketing for the EU is such an important factor. You know, that, that green element.

Speaker A: 00:39:08

So, yeah, yeah, those numbers that you said, they're norma. It's something that a lot of businesses think about, but it's quite surprising to the extent what you said it was 70, 80%, it can be ignored.

You've got to, got to look at it.

And it's great that Anthony and the team are kind of taking those, those steps to do it and not just thinking we'll put it on the back burner while we're busy trying to focus on, on everything else as well.

Speaker C: 00:39:40

Yeah, Our customers are more demanding these days and we have to flex and be agile to meet their needs.

Speaker B: 00:39:48

And I think the way that, you know, compliance is going, you need to get ahead of this. You need, you need to make sure that again, you're being proactive because otherwise legislation will change and it will be a requirement.

So if you're already in the habit of doing these things, you can kind of take those changes into legislation in your stride.

We're now compliant with epr, which is, I forget the acronym, what it stands for, but we have to report on all the, all the waste packaging that's produced in the business and the different ways that that goes out. And that was a very comp. Another very complicated project to get completed.

But it means that when that becomes forever looked at for that legislation and we're already compliant and we're already doing what's required and I noticed that Amazon EU have put that as an upcoming requirement that they want to see the visibility that products that are being sold on that platform are coming from suppliers that are compliant for their packaging information. So yeah, it's the way that you have to do business now.

Speaker C: 00:41:14

Yeah.

Speaker A: 00:41:16

So sorry Nama.

Speaker C: 00:41:18

That's okay. Go on.

Speaker A: 00:41:21

All I was going to say is so from listening to both of you, the key messages I'm getting and I kind of want you guys to add if there's anything I've missed, but it's been proactive, it's been diligent in your planning and the steps that you take and surrounding yourselves with the right people. No one knows everything, no one by themselves can do everything.

But whether it's to do with internationalizing your website, the tax side career, whoever it is, it's surrounding yourselves with the right people. Is there anything else either of you would kind of add to? I suppose that little list of key.

Speaker C: 00:42:06

Points for me there's a really big one there and it's about relationships and I know something different wholesale pride themselves on an excellent rating on trustpilot.

And you know, it's that focus on the quality of the relationships and the connections, whether that's customers or whether that's wholesalers, retailers, whether that's partners, whoever that is.

I think that focus on relationship is so important and then really understand your customers and your customers wants and needs and communicate with them.

And if you can, and this is me getting on my hobby horse a little bit, if you can and you are thinking of exporting to the EU then at some point in time and something different wholesaler just coming into phase two of the project now. So we're going to be reflecting on do we use foreign languages?

Because if you address people in the native language online, you can get a 400% uptake in engagement and sales. So all of these things can make a big difference. But of course there are lots and lots of new things to consider when you're making that decision.

But I think people focus in a relationship focus so that you can ensure that quality of attention and care to your customers is absolutely critical. Anthony, I'm sure you've got a few to add to that.

Speaker B: 00:43:39

Yeah, I think always trying to remember that ultimate goal, that kind of longer term vision, because it can get frustrating when you get bogged down in the moment of that hasn't gotten right and how are we possibly going to get over that and even catastrophize a little bit in the moment, but actually just making sure that all this effort is worthwhile. A huge market in the EU and even though Brexit has happened, we're not that different to the people in Europe.

We have lots of the same habits, we like lots of the same things. And therefore the opportunity for British businesses to sell to the US is as good as it's ever been. But you just need to keep on, persevere.

You can have a bad day and something might, you might think this is going to scupper the whole plan, but actually there are more options available now than there was immediately after Brexit. Couriers have improved, there are better models, there are different ways that you can sell your goods into the eu.

Just need to find the right one and know that at the end of that process there's good opportunity for you.

Speaker C: 00:45:02

And I think what you have, which is really commendable, is this perspective of let's make it as easy as possible for the customers to communicate with us and to buy from us. So you're really putting yourself in the customer's shoes and taking great care of them, which I think will pay dividends.

Speaker A: 00:45:26

th us what are your plans for: 2025

And at the end of the day, you're hoping that this journey goes ultimately beyond Europe?

Speaker B: 00:45:46

Yeah, yeah, for sure. You know, this, this year we, we plan to launch at least the ie +1 own language website.

Norman's going to help us kind of make sure that we've identified the very best opportunity. So, you know, we have historic sales, so we know roughly where our sales are coming from within the EU now.

th a view to exhibit there in: 2026

So it's, you know, using that three or four days there to really talk to other UK companies to understand how, how it works, where we should be positioned, what, what the opportunities are, who, the customers who are visiting this, the show and then working with European partners in terms of, okay, we build a website but then we need that website to perform in, in that particular country.

So to make sure that we've got really good local, local content, we've got, you know, pay per click campaigns, we're in the right directories, if there's, you know, wholesaler gift directories, that that is appropriate for our business and making sure that we make that website as visible as possible, but then again as easy to use. And we'll be doing some work to make sure that we've got the right, even payment options for customers.

So if we're using a German, if it's a German website and they need a specific payment option that we don't offer in the uk, understanding that before we, we, we deliver that website that's included, you know, that, that local understanding.

And again we'll, we'll be working with Norma on that, but also the Department of Business and Trade and our contacts there to, to see what information we can gather from locals in, in that country.

Speaker A: 00:47:56

g to have a busy and exciting: 2025

Speaker C: 00:48:00

I know, I just, I just love this, I just love this work. I travel in my mind at least week. It's great and there's always something new and things are changing and you get to work with wonderful people.

So, you know, it's a privilege.

Speaker A: 00:48:19

So really, I think for me now, I think that's brilliant explanation, both Anthony and Norma, in terms of what you've been through. Yes. It's not always simple or that there are challenges on the way, but those challenges can be overcome.

You can get over those barriers and if you have the right approach, right mentality, the right team around you, you can still make it a success.

So the last thing really I want to do is just open the floor up simply to either of you, both of you, and if there's anything else that you'd like to add at all, then please be my guest. Silence. I wasn't expecting that. Sorry.

Speaker B: 00:49:08

Good.

Speaker C: 00:49:08

Anthony.

Speaker B: 00:49:09

So I was going to say, I don't think there is, I think we have covered, you know, a good cross section of the projects that we've been working on and yeah, we're excited to get to that point. Now we could really put the foot on the gas in terms of kind of the sales and the marketing element of the project and see where it takes us.

Speaker C: 00:49:33

And you know, at the end of the article in the Horizon magazine, I canvassed opinions from some of the great people that we've interviewed over the Past couple of years. Is it now?

Speaker A: 00:49:46

It must be. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker C: 00:49:50

And some of the key things that cropped up, and I've just underlined some of them in the article here, collaborating, having great relationships, being brave, but doing the hard work and doing the due diligence and having plans and knowing where you want to get to and using all the right partners, et cetera. But don't hold back, you know, go for it.

Now is the time as we're emerging from this whole sort of lockdown, EU exit phase, now's the time of opportunity, you know, before things get. Get too far progressed to really dive in there and yeah, don't hold back, go for it.

Speaker A: 00:50:38

I think that's a brilliant point to end, to be honest. I don't think I could say it better than myself then, then, yeah, just, just go for it and make the most of the opportunity.

So honestly, thank you very much to both of you for. And it's brilliant.

Not just hear from you, Norma, and from kind of the business support position, but to hear from you, Anthony, and the reality as a business, what you're doing and how you're doing it is pretty priceless, especially sometimes for other businesses who may be struggling or feeling deflated about their own journey. So thank you very much to both of you and your time today.

Speaker B: 00:51:22

Pleasure. Thank you. Thank you.

Speaker A: 00:51:25

Thank you everyone for listening.

If you want to find out more about Anthony's journey and something different wholesale, then as we've mentioned, have a look at their article where they set out between Anthony and Norma, set out the nine step route map that they're going upon to enter the EU market. Links to that can be found in the bio or below this, this video. But apart from that, thank you very much for listening.

I hope to see you again on a future edition of the podcast and but until next time, thank you very much.