Establishing a branch or subsidiary of your company can be daunting. You may be a successful company in your own country, but relocating your business activity to a company where you are unfamiliar with the language, business customs, trends, and geography is a big move unless you do your homework.
Why is market research important?
Research is an important element of expansion into Europe, the USA or worldwide. If you have a product that is successful in the UK for example how do you know it will be accepted in Germany or France? Customers have different buying habits by country. So, you may look at whether you set up a retail shop or online presence as well as a local language website. Does your product benefit from a personal presence or can it be sold without this? Bear in mind also that in some countries consumer behaviour is such that a physical presence may be beneficial to sales of your product.
The employment market abroad
Understanding the employment market is also key. If you have a technology-related company then you will probably want to look at countries where the unemployment rate is high but skills are high also to ensure that you are recruiting a good team for a reasonable salary. This would also apply for recruitment activity where you need to find a good pool of applicants for your customers.
Practicalities of setting up a business internationally
Practicality is also important for setting up a subsidiary or branch of your existing business. Considerations such as banking, accountancy and ongoing compliance should be reviewed as this will have a bearing on where you establish your business. Will you have local staff to support the business? How much administration will you need to undertake for the business and can your staff support you?
Physical office worldwide
Warehousing and rents need to be looked at if you are going to have a physical office. This also comes down to whether you need to be based in the capital city or whether you can set up outside where rents and warehousing are much cheaper. For example, there are several departments in France where they actively look to attract customers to their region and give support to do so. Please contact us to work with you on introduction to these regions which can be found mostly in the North of France with good communications networks including ferry, road and air.
Contact us for help and advice to set up in Europe
Companies such as Open A Europeancompany.com can support businesses like yourselves to get set up not only in Europe but worldwide using our experience of setting up internationally over the last 20 years. Call us on +44 (0) 20 8421 7470 or contact us via the website for help and advice.