online event
Navigating Global Markets: how to adapt your business offer to attract new overseas customers
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Looking to grow your business in overseas markets, but unsure if your product or service is a good fit? This webinar, in partnership with Santander UK, will cover everything you need to know to help you innovate and adapt your business, so you’re ready for international success.
What you’ll learn
- How to adapt, or redevelop, your existing products or services to ensure that they align with the cultural, regulatory, and consumer preferences of target international markets.
- How to approach localisation strategies for product packaging, branding, labelling, and messaging to resonate with your target market audience.
- Consider what are effective product launch strategies, marketing tactics, and distribution channels to promote products successfully in overseas markets.
Description
The webinar will be delivered in partnership with Santander UK.
When it comes to exporting your goods or services, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. And what works for your customer base in your home market, won’t necessarily work for new customers internationally.
Whether it’s changing ingredients to satisfy local tastes, or creating alternative labelling to meet local laws, your products may need to go through a makeover to make them work for your new market.
While adapting your product or service can take time and money, giving them a local feel can unlock greater success and help you hit the ground running.
Santander UK’s Trade Barometer research shows that:
- 24% of UK businesses are planning to invest in product development over the next 12 months.
- 17% say understanding a country’s local customers and culture to positioning their products in a new market is a challenge when operating in international markets.
- 10% also face challenges related to innovation and/or R&D required to fulfil overseas demand.
In this session, which will be delivered in partnership with Santander, we will be covering topics such as: how to innovate and adapt your existing business offer to ensure it is suitable to reach a global customer base; how to market your product overseas; and the appropriate distribution channels and strategies you can consider when growing your business internationally.
Speakers
Kathryn Smith
International Business Development Director, Santander UK
Kathryn has been a part of the team since 2011. With a strong focus on enabling UK businesses to achieve their international goals, Kathryn has held various roles within the company to support businesses in realising their global ambitions. Her dedication to assisting companies in their international endeavours and her proficiency in multiple languages make her an invaluable asset in the world of international growth.
Simon Stevens
Founder and CEO, VOW nutrition
VOW nutrition is a UK-based sports supplement brand, with the goal of ‘bringing the consumer a brand that truly represents commitment to quality, innovation and sustainability'.
Founded in 2019, VOW has gone from strength to strength, with the brand becoming the official nutrition provider for Team GB at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
For Simon, international trade is important, and closely linked to growth and expansion. ‘The goal is to be the biggest sports brand in the world, and to do that we have to look at being stocked and supplied globally, which isn’t easy to do’.
Laura Willoughby MBE
Co-founder and director of partnerships, Club Soda
Laura Willoughby MBE is the founder of the world’s largest mindful drinking movement, Club Soda, and the UK’s foremost expert in low and no alcoholic drinks. Club Soda runs the Low & No Tasting Room in Covent Garden.
Laura was named number 11 in 2024’s Drinks Retailing’s latest Top 100 Most Influential People in Drink and one of the 100 most influential women in hospitality by CODE. The Club Soda Tasting Room was Drink Retailing’s Independent Retailer of the Year 2023. She is a Drink Doctor for The Caterer, an Imbibe Ambassador, and a judge for WAFA, IWSC, Great British Food Awards, Global Drinks Intel ESG Awards and Publican of the Year. Laura is a Trustee for The Drinks Trust and Equal Measures.
Receiving an MBE for services to the community in 2004, Laura’s devotion to Club Soda means hundreds of thousands of people are supported in their journeys to live well by being more mindful about drinking alcohol.
Robin Hill
UK Export Academy Adviser, Department for Business and Trade
Robin is a versatile professional with experience spanning various business sectors, including blue-chip companies and dynamic startups. His journey includes roles at Burton Group, General Electric, and BUPA. Notably, he has ventured into entrepreneurship, establishing startups in Broking and the wholesale Wine Trade. His diverse background reflects a blend of corporate expertise and entrepreneurial spirit.