Originally published on December 16, 2020, updated January 15, 2021
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If your Amazon business sells to customers in Europe, or you are considering expanding to Amazon UK or any of the European marketplaces, it's important to understand how Brexit impacts your business in 2021. In this webinar, Amazon experts Jérôme de Guigné of e-Comas and Carina McLeod from eCommerceNurse discuss the changes with Amazon fulfillment effective January 1, 2021, and provide strategies for FBA sellers to succeed in a post-Brexit world.
Watch the webinar to learn:
You can watch the webinar above or check out the show notes below for the recap and a full transcript.
How well do you understand Brexit? If you’re considering expanding to Amazon UK or any of the European marketplaces, or you’re already selling to customers in Europe, you need to understand how your business will be impacted in 2021.
eComEngine hosted Amazon experts Jérôme de Guigné of e-Comas and Carina McLeod from eCommerce Nurse to discuss changes to Amazon fulfillment in Europe effective January 1, 2021. Plus, they cover strategies for FBA sellers to succeed in a post-Brexit world. You don’t want to miss this!
Before Brexit, Amazon Europe was like one big family that included the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden. Now, sellers will have to view them separately as Amazon UK and Amazon Europe.
As McLeod explained, “Where businesses before were able to take advantage of this European fulfillment network and the single market within the EU and the free movement of goods, that's no longer...that's the biggest challenge now that businesses are hit with, which then brings in a number of different challenges when it comes to trade.”
Things are changing every day. According to de Guigné, “It's very important to be agile to be successful on Amazon, but even more today...we don’t know how things will react. The complexity of doing business in Europe has grown. The companies which thrive today are the ones which are able to change quickly. And to that extent, the bigger companies are suffering more than the smaller companies.”
Due to the ambiguity that still exists, some businesses have stepped away from Amazon Europe right now to focus solely on Amazon UK. “At the same time, there are businesses that have fully invested and have already planned for Brexit, setting up and making sure that they can manage their business within the UK and within Europe,” said McLeod.
There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding fulfillment options for Amazon UK and Amazon Europe sellers. Whereas businesses could rely on the European fulfillment network and its free movement of goods before Brexit, it’s now unclear how that free trade agreement will work.
As McLeod pointed out, “There are borders now, there’s still customs. That free movement that [allowed customers to receive] a product from Germany the next day, we don't know if that's going to happen. That's a bit of the unknown. And the biggest challenge for businesses right now is that effectively there's a border between the UK and Europe.”
On top of that, there may also be tariffs and customs when importing between Europe and the UK. As a result, you may have to split your shipments if you choose to remain in both markets. The problem? “Now, you have to have two stocks,” says de Guigné. “More stocks means more costs. Brexit, from a business point of view, means a lot of costs. And most probably, you will have to look at your pricing — the logistics cost of Amazon or moving things around will impact your margins.”
If you thought trademarks were a headache before, they’ve become even more complicated now. McLeod explained that brand registration will be separate for the UK and EU; businesses will need to get each trademark if they plan to sell in both markets — which can be an additional cost.
The good news, she noted, is that “for businesses that already have an EU trademark, the UK will automatically be creating a UK trademark. Amazon Brand Registry has also said that they'll automatically manage all of that in the background.” Of course, things may not transition smoothly; it’s important to verify that your UK trademark is in the Brand Registry.
“To be clear, the system hasn't been changed per se,” said de Guigné. “It's just the recognition of the old trademark system that has to change because the law has changed.” You always had the option to register your UK brand, French brand, and also the EU one. It’s just that the process of securing the new UK and European trademarks will take more effort.
While this recap has touched on some of the most important highlights, there’s so much more to learn from watching the webinar. One major topic discussed is compliance. Will you need UK-specific compliance marking as well as European marking? What about fines? There’s so much to consider!
Selling in Europe has definitely become more complicated, but if you’re flexible and prepared, you can be successful. Trying to understand everything can be overwhelming, but the guidance from these Amazon experts in this informative webinar can help. You’ve got this!
Originally published on December 16, 2020, updated January 15, 2021
This post is accurate as of the date of publication. Some features and information may have changed due to product updates or Amazon policy changes.
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