Partnering with TradeTech Solutions - Together We Thrive

Our mission is to make B2B eCommerce simple for SMEs - and one of the keys to achieving this is through partnerships. Here we set out:

• What a TTS partnership offers.
• The potential to increase exports of your SME client base.
• Which of your clients could be interested in Multilingual Microsites.
• Very Easy First Step for Your Client to Take.
• Conclusions.
• Interested? Please contact us.

(The following contains extracts from the British Business Bank's SME FM survey* that apply solely to the UK economy. However, the general thrust of the arguments should also apply to other countries.)

What does a TTS partnership offer?

Partnerships with TTS can be structured in a number of ways to offer a combination of:

1. A recurring income stream;
2. Access to anonymised data traffic statistics which indicate the potential for new cross-border markets and services;
3. A clear value added service to your corporate client base;
4. Promotion of your business within one or more of our websites and\or through our monthly newsletters; and.
5. Marketing collateral that you can adapt to the characteristics of your client base.

In addition:

1. As your clients open up their international potential, this opens up your opportunities to sell more of your support services.
2. Offering these value-added services allows you to differentiate the scope of your services from those of your competitors.

Plus, of course, you also get your own Multilingual Microsite - free of charge!

The Potential to Increase the Exports of your SME Client Base

The survey states that there are good reasons to assume that UK SME exporters have the potential to significantly increase their overseas sales - both in terms of numbers of exporters and export turnover per exporter.

• The survey estimates that c.530,000 SMEs are exporters - only c.9% of all UK SMEs
• Exports accounted for 10% of SME turnover which is well below the 16% average across all UK businesses In 2018, SMEs accounted for around one-third of total UK exports - down from over 50% in 2008 and 2009.

Moreover, these estimates above are lower than for their European counterparts.

Why don't UK SMEs Export More?

The main factors behind this lack of propensity to export were determined to be:

• The higher perceived risk.
• The lack of time or resources to focus on internationalisation.
• Lack of interest, they just don't want to export.

UK Exporters are Generally Reactive and Opportunistic

UK SMEs view the biggest challenges were planning and identifying opportunities (also underlined by the discovery that just 12% of exporting SMEs have developed an export business plan).

• Only 19% of SMEs become exporters because they take deliberate steps.
• Many SMEs with a history of exporting stop, sometimes temporarily.
• The single biggest factor for focusing on a particular marker was that SMEs had been approached by a customer from that market (61% of those currently exporting).

Therefore, realistically, any export promotion service proposed SMEs must take the above factors into account. This means providing solutions that:

• Lower any perceived risk.
• Require a minimum amount of time and resource to implement.
• Highlight the benefits of exporting.
• Provide a catalyst for exporting by directly channelling new opportunities.

We would suggest that the Multilingual Microsites, supported by the additional services provided through TTS and our partners satisfy all of these requirements.

Which clients could be interested in Multilingual Microsites?

Whether they are already exporting or not, many more SMEs* could benefit from having their own Multilingual Microsite:

• Both suppliers of goods and/or services: For example, more UK SMEs export services than goods - 46% only export services and 37% only goods).
• Size does not matter: Medium-, Small- and Micro-Enterprises can all benefit from international trade (the survey found "SMEs planning to export were more likely to be the smallest micro-enterprises").

*Clearly, there are some activities that do not have any scope for international trade e.g. services of a purely personal nature.

Very Easy First Step for Your Client to Take

The only active steps an SME has to take to test its international trade potential are to:

1. Subscribe to the Multilingual Microsite service;
2. Complete the Configuration Pages.

Then they only have to wait to see if they receive any international queries. (Between us, we can provide any necessary support they may subsequently need.)

Benefits to Your Clients

Should you need any assistance in generating any marketing material, we'd be happy to assist.

The benefits of export sales can be summarised as:

• Risk Reduction; rather than increasing risk.
• Production Schedule Balancing.
• Improved Economies of Scale.
• Extension of Product Life Cycles.
• New Market Knowledge & Experience.
• Increased Revenues & Profits.

Simply put, thanks to you, for a very modest investment in time and money they unlock their international potential to benefit from all of the above.

Conclusions

The SME FM survey shows that there is a great deal of potential for SMEs to increase their volume of exports. However, there are the perceived barriers of increased risk and lack of resources. As a result, many (most?) UK SMEs are reactive and opportunistic. They need to have that first approach from an overseas market. Then they will respond, positively.
We would suggest that:

• An SME's Multilingual Microsite can act as the magnet to attract that first overseas approach.
• The cost of the Multilingual Microsite is so low that even micro-enterprises can justify it in their marketing budgets.
• Between TTS and our partners, we can provide any support that SMEs may need to complete their international trade safely and profitably.

Contact Us

If you have a corporate client base that you feel would benefit from their own Multilingual Microsites, or you would like to discuss how you could bring added value to any of our other services, please contact the Partner Helpdesk at TradeTech Solutions Ltd. We will then schedule an initial no-obligation chat at a mutually convenient time to discuss how we could work together.

*British Business Bank: “UK SME exporting trends: finance and trade February, 2020” UK-SME-Exporting-FINAL-VERSION.pdf