One of the many fallouts from the combination of Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine has been an enormous escalation in the cost of living. But if persistently high inflation has caused problems for consumers and families, it has also had a massive impact on companies. 

Indeed, the cost of doing business has rocketed in the last eighteen months, and many aspects of every day commerce are more expensive as a result. 

This includes the cost of doing business overseas. This has been an issue brought up regularly by members across the Institute of Export & International Trade’s activities in recent months. It is an topic that will be discussed in detail at MemberCon23. 

Overseas work

One of the main discussion panels will directly address the cost of doing business overseas.
The panelists include Darren Wareing, head of sales and marketing at Core. Core provides solutions and services to digitise international trade, including supply chain management, customs classification, and compliance and sustainability data tracking.

[Panel member Darren Wareing]

Wareing is a participant on the “Managing the costs of international trade” panel. As well as looking forward to the session, he says that he is looking forward to networking and listening to other speakers on the latest developments and trends in the industry.

He booked his place at MemberCon23 on the back of the 2022 event in Birmingham:

“Last year’s MemberCon was really a great event and at a good venue. I got to meet a lot of the members that have not had the chance to meet and the programme last year was very informative. 

“The discussion sessions were very helpful for me and our business. Because we provide solutions and services to simplify international trade. It helps us to adapt and hear about the challenges businesses or individuals are facing.”

No easy day

Wareing says there are limits to what a business can do to mitigate and manage the rising costs of international trade.

“It's not easy,” he says. His key advice is to do your research on the country of export and the country of import. 

“From recent experiences myself as a consumer, I have purchased goods from the US and been hit by duties and taxes thereafter, either because the information hadn’t been declared or it wasn't transparent from the retailer. 

“I would advise businesses to leverage the IOE&IT team plus their fellow members. There's a lot of knowledge and intelligence, but also a lot of willingness to share that, so others can gain from it. 

Hearing from those who know first-hand

Wareing says he always finds it useful to speak to people or businesses that have already trodden a similar path. And when it comes to really looking at costs of trade in the long-term, he suggests using data. 

“As your export journey grows, look at ways to leverage your data or the information that you’ve got in your organization because there can be a lot of duplication and repetition and administrative processes when you’re exporting and that’s around documentation as well as reporting.”

Also speaking on the same panel are Mark Lincoln, business transformation specialist and IOE&IT board member (who is chairing the session) and Katharine Salter, customs policy & strategy, head of authorisations and AEO at HMRC. They will be joined by Vicky Payne, director of IOE&IT Academy and Sylwia Nowak, senior customs and foreign trade compliance officer, Brose Group.

[Panelist Sylwia Nowak]

For her part, Nowak says she is really looking forward to the whole MemberCon experience.

“I am looking forward to learning from others and sharing some tips with other customs-orientated people. I enjoy talking about customs and supply chain challenges that other industries are facing and trying to promote trade digitalisation.”

This last point is, says Nowak, an essential aspect in any debate on managing the costs of international trade.

MemberCon23 is taking place on 5 July 2023, 9am to 4.30pm (with an additional hour drinks session afterwards) at Spaces at The Spine in Liverpool. To find out more and book a ticket, visit our website.