The BPCC and UKTI have launched their joint project to help the UK export more to Poland – one of 20 growth markets around the world identified by the Government as having great potential for British exporters.
A four-person team is now in place, to be supported from November by a custom IT tool-kit matching UK exporters with Polish importers. A British Business Centre in the heart of Warsaw has been made available to the project by HSBC; it was officially opened by Ken Clarke last month.
Britain has a significant trade deficit in goods and services with Poland, a market that's been growing strongly for the past 20 years. There's a great many niches where Britain is a strong player, but where in Poland it's almost invisible – from agricultural machinery to blue cheese. The aim of the export team is to attract UK exporters to Poland – and help them land concrete business opportunities here. "If German, Scandinavian, Italian or French exporters can do good business in Poland, there's little reason why British exporters shouldn't – especially with the pound some 8% weaker against the euro than it was a year ago,” says Patrick Ney, the project's director.
“Getting British firms to take a serious look at Poland is not easy, but once we've focused their attention on the opportunities out here, there's much we can do to win business for them. The project team will be identifying Polish importers, agents, distributors and wholesalers that are potentially interested in selling UK products here in Poland. Much of the team's work will involve visiting trade fairs, arranging meetings for UK exporters with Polish importers, and setting up inbound trade missions from the UK.”
Another part of the project is to help British e-commerce firms sell directly to Poland. This will entail reaching out to websites already geared up for export sales, but which are not yet available in Polish. “Translating the offer and localising it for the Polish market is only part of the task. It's also about search-engine optimisation and marketing, ensuring that a Polish end-user, searching the web in Polish, will find their product and buy it directly on-line,” said Mr Ney.
“We hope that our work will result in quick wins, visible and repeatable, that can be replicated in other export markets around the world; we hope our pioneering work here in Poland will help boost UK export performance globally.”
