Exporting outside Northern Ireland can change your business. Like any fundamental change to the way you trade, there are risks as well as benefits you should consider. You should weigh them up before starting to move into overseas markets.
You could significantly expand your markets, leaving you less dependent on any single one.
Greater production can lead to larger economies of scale and better margins.
Your research and development budget could work harder as you can change existing products to suit new markets.
Unless you're careful, you can lose focus on your home markets and existing customers.
Your administration costs may rise as you may have to deal with export regulations when trading outside the European Union.
You will be managing more remote relationships, sometimes thousands of miles away.
In overseas markets, you may lose some of the control that you are used to at home.
You will need to think of your new market differently to the home market. They will be different customers with their own reasons for buying your products.
There are ways you can manage the risks of exporting.
You will have different responsibilities for VAT depending on whether you sell to other European Union (EU) countries or export your goods outside of the EU.
If you sell to other countries in the EU, you must keep records and submit details of these sales on your VAT return. If you have a high level of sales to EU countries, you must complete an Intrastat Supplementary declaration. Read an introduction to Intrastat.
If you sell to countries outside the EU, you must keep documents that count as proof of export. These must identify:
the exporter
the customer
the goods and their value
the export destination
the mode of transport and the route.
In both cases, most goods you export will be zero-rated for VAT. You should check with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Exporting to the Pacific Rim for years
Our Aluminum comes direct from leading Mills
Industrial Metal Supply Co. has been selling metals to the Pacific Rim for years. Outstanding service and competitive pricing has made IMS the ideal partner for metal users in Asia, New Zealand and Australia because we take care of all order details from start to finish. We process, pack and handle all Export orders internally. The documentation is completed and submitted by our vetted freight forwarder and we have the ability to quote CIF your harbor which is a great advantage.
By only selling to Stockists, IMS offers our Pacific Rim partners a distinct advantage because we will not be competing with you by inadvertently selling to your customers on a direct basis. We have a 4,000 lbs order minimum in efforts to be competitive on our freight pricing. We will sell you any size order, the freight rate will just have to be adjusted based on any weight under 4,000 lbs. This is critical during constantly changing economic times like we are experiencing now. The advantage of our low order minimum is that you will not need to buy excess or build up your inventory to meet half or full container loads.
Our metals come direct from leading mills:
With metal in stock orders can be processed quickly. We are also happy to help you search for odd sizes/items.
We can offer aluminum contracts. You can order 50,000 lbs for six months or 100,000 lbs for a year as the minimum, with monthly deliveries, to guarantee the price.