How to Conquer the European Market

The European Market has always been a daunting market with 24 official languages and many more dialects the the shear logistical problem talking with potential customers and setting right tone is difficult almost impossible for non local people. Over the last years luckily this started changing with wider acceptance of English and the formation of the EU the European Union which made the market more accessible.

 

 

What is Europe

The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2 (1,728,099 sq mi), and an estimated population of over 510 million. The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital within the internal market, enact legislation in justice and home affairs, and maintain common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries, and regional development. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished. A monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency (source wikipedia).

Nevertheless the Market is still hardly easy to access with different ruling and with the upcoming Brexit the UK will be most likely add trading barriers within the EU. Brexit, short for "British Exit from the European Union", is the prospective withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU)(source wikipedia).

With shared economy of 15 trillion (nominal), representing ~22% of global economy the EU is the second largest world economy and the largest trading partner of the USA and China.

 

So how do you approach the EU Market?

Because it large fragmentation and big local market differences it is recommendable to research your approach first intensively. Finding business opportunities in europe is not always easy and getting the message across is even harder therefor its recommendable to do intensive research for which countries would be your starting point. Most companies first approach is the German market. This makes sense as it is the largest Country but on an industrial side it is also the most developed market so there is a big chance that you will find more competitors and this combined with the German more reserved approach towards new suppliers would not be your best fit.

 

Export opportunities to Europe

Your next questions would be Exporting or Local manufacturing. This is good question to ask yourself as exporting to the EU is in most cases easy as shipping agents are competitive and offer good shipping rates within the EU but shipping from outside of the EU to the EU also comes with import barriers like duties tariffs and you share amount of paperwork. This might at first be a daunting task and it is if you do not do your homework but if you are well prepared this will be well worth it.

Marketing in Europe

Marketing in Europe is different because it has so many different cultures and accepted medias. As Facebook is very strong Europe Twitter is less accepted. LinkedIn is popular but in Germany for instance there is the German version Xing. People expect Advertising and communication in there local language and English would not bring you Message across as it would in the local language. Of course for this you also reach out to setup your Multi-Lingual approach.

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