Consider new approaches for selling direct to consumers and ensure you visit a market before you start selling there – those were the tips from trade experts at a session featured in this week’s International Food and Drink Event (IFE) 2025.
The seminar on ‘Navigating Global Markets for SMEs’ included Chartered Institute trade and customs specialist Joseph Goldsworthy offering his advice to those looking to enter new markets, while the founders of a range of trade services firms also provided their insights.
Distribution channels
Quizzed by the audience on crucial tips when choosing to expand your export footprint, Goldsworthy highlighted the importance of choosing whether to go B2B or B2C when entering a new market.
“Look at distribution channels,” Goldsworthy said. “If you’re just starting out, maybe B2B is your best route, as it allows you to explore a market with a limited amount of risk.”
We are, however, in a “relatively rapidly-changing new era”, where B2C distribution is being made much easier than it was “even five years ago” through fourth party logistics (4PL). This, he explained, is “where companies can outsource all operations, from shipping to paperwork and storage”, allowing for “smoother B2C business models”.
“When I was exporting goods five years ago, these 4PL channels were not available, and it was a real uphill task doing B2C in foreign markets. That’s no longer the case – there is now a real variety of distribution channels.”
While B2B is simpler in many markets, those dealing with fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) may want to opt for B2C and use a 4PL partner that can help “absorb some of that liability for paperwork, or for duties if they’re acting as a fiscal representative”.
‘Go out into the market’
Joanne Alexander-Sefre, founder of Food Sans Frontieres, was asked how to ensure you have enough customers in a market to justify exporting to it. Speaking from her experience with Japan, she said it’s important to get advice from within a market, looking at basic requirements such as packaging.
More broadly, she emphasised the value of actually visiting a market in person:
“Go out to the market – that’s very important. Go out and get some contacts, whether you go through the British embassy or other routes, do a fact-finding mission. You might do all that, look at the costs of distribution and decide [a market] is not the one for us.”
The founder of the International Trade Consultancy and session host, Lucinda O’Reilly, concurred with this advice, calling it “incredibly valuable”.
“Nothing beats actually going to the market in question and meeting the people that you’re thinking of selling to,” she added, emphasising that it is a crucial part of “doing your due diligence”.
Wider considerations
Alexander-Sefre said that this experience helps you to understand whether your product is actually suitable for a market. This, however, is only a first step, and you should also consider how products are marketed in the region.
You also need to consider the “cost of working with your wholesaler”, she said, while warning against “leaving it to your distributor”.
Christopher Salmon, founder of ClearBorder, advised listeners not to be “intimidated” by the range of considerations and acronyms involved in exporting for the first time, meanwhile. He noted that regulations – and acronyms – around food exporting can be particularly daunting, but that they are manageable with the right support.
To learn more about boosting your food and drink exports, you can download the Chartered Institute's new whitepaper on the topic here.
