35% of small businesses in the North West shun overseas expansion

More than a third (35%) of small businesses in the North West have no interest in exploring overseas markets according to research by KPMG and YouGov.

Across the UK the challenges were less pronounced for mid-sized businesses where just 20% of respondents said that they had no interest in exploring overseas markets. Currently only 17% of UK medium-sized businesses generate revenues outside of the EU compared to 25% in Germany and 30% in Italy. According to the CBI, businesses are 11% more likely to survive if they export.

“Making the leap into overseas markets is not nearly as daunting as it seems on paper. There are some great success stories of SMEs who have achieved massive growth by successfully moving to overseas markets. Linking in with organisations who run trade missions overseas or have good networks abroad is the first step on a journey that is not nearly as complex as SMEs believe it to be and the rewards can be huge.”

Clive Drinkwater, UKTI North West regional director, added: “It is understandable that the prospect of exporting is daunting for companies who have never traded overseas before, but the benefits are too great to ignore. The UK has only 0.8% of the world’s population – why not reach out to the other 99.2%?