Partner Article

Importing and exporting

With Suzanne McCreedy of Business Link

Barriers to international trade have fallen significantly over recent years and have opened up a wealth of new markets to the region’s businesses. So to guide North East businesses through key import and export considerations and to make the most of international business opportunities for the region, we’ve updated the international trade section of the Business Link North East website. And with the launch of a new online tool, we aim to help businesses assess the potential risk associated with completing an international trade deal and guide them through which payment terms are most appropriate when selling to overseas customers.

When trading overseas and deciding how customers can pay, there are a number of factors to take into consideration, such as the customer’s creditworthiness, trading conditions in their country and your business’ financial strength. Importing and exporting can be an extremely complex process, but if you want to grow your business, overseas markets have huge potential.

Taking no more than ten minutes to complete, this online tool produces a short tailored report recommending the most suitable payment method for the transaction and further action points.

Naturally, there’s no ‘one-size fits all’ solution so by offering impartial advice on what businesses need to consider and highlighting the best options available, the tool ensures that business owners will be in the best position when trading overseas. This tool is just one of the features on the website’s newly enhanced international trade section, which also includes other tools, advice and guides on tax obligations when importing and exporting, transporting goods and researching overseas markets as well as a broad range of areas of business support.

The website enables you to access key information at the touch of a button 24 hours a day, seven days a week and we realise this is no substitute to professional advice so we’re always at the end of the phone.For further information, visit www.businesslinknortheast.co.uk or call 0845 600 9 006.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .