Find the right export market for your business
Read our tips on how to find the right overseas market for your business, including international market research resources and live opportunities.
Get to know your market and your customers thoroughly before diving in
Which market?
Understanding the business environment in your target export markets is an important part of doing business overseas. You'll find lots of practical information in the Department for International Trade's country guides.
These cover things such as:
- The benefits of doing business in the market
- Finding opportunities
- Identifying potential challenges
- Discovering routes to enter the market
- Scoping out legal, tax and customs considerations
Find global markets guides on the Institute of Export & International Trade website opens in a new window (registration required).
Explore our resources and tips for researching international markets
Develop your approach to selling internationally by finding the right market information quickly and easily.
Whether you intend to carry out your market research yourself or commission research from a third party, you should be clear which key questions you need to answer to:
- Inform your export plan
- Allow you to best respond to market opportunities
- Minimise any risks or unnecessary costs
Ask yourself:
- What do you need to know about doing business successfully in the markets you select?
- Does your product require an export licence?
- Is any other certification required for your product?
- How will you protect your product or service and any intellectual property you have?
Your exported products and services will be subject to national rules and regulations in whichever market you export to. They may even require a specific export licence to export if they are classed as 'restricted goods'. Your research should always establish the exporting and regulatory requirements for the product or service you intend to sell, in each market you intend to target.
Learn more about your sector with our free international markets research service
Make the most of our free international market research service
Free research, within five days
Save time, money and effort by getting in touch with our dedicated market research team to delve deeper into global market trends, customer behaviour and competitor activity.
We can provide a range of services to help you identify the right market opportunity for your product or service, including:
- Market guides
- Global market intelligence
- Competitor insights
- Industry trends and forecasts
- Consumer demographics
- Supplier databases
Search live opportunities to find out where demand is for your products and services
Live opportunities
Want to find out if there's demand for your product or service?
You can filter and apply for opportunities by country on our partners' dedicated websites and sign up for tailored email alerts.
Got a question?
Our team would be happy to chat.
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