A new survey of 500 UK businesses post-Brexit, has found that 64 per cent of SME are aiming to grow in Europe and North America over the next 12 months.
At the same time, 34 per cent are looking toward Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East in 2023.
The survey by financial technology company Airwallex collected data which indicates that international expansion is seen as a big opportunity for investment from 2023.
Employee retention important
Employee retention and investment in people to combat the declining market are also important factors for SMEs raised in the survey.
In addition, the survey shows that 42 per cent of SMEs are migrating towards digital and fintech platforms as opposed to traditional banking strategies to optimise productivity and reduce costs.
The report says that to finance international expansion, most businesses are reinvesting profits as a strategy (46 per cent), while the remainder plan to rely on partners (38 per cent), and bank loans (27 per cent).
Facilitating expansion
One third of the respondents are aiming to build new trade partnerships and a little over a quarter aim to establish channel partnerships to facilitate expansion in 2023.
The survey also found confidence in the UK market, where despite the instability of the current market, given the cost-of-living crisis and wider inflation concerns, plans for growing abroad dropped from 85 per cent to 70 per cent when polled in May and October respectively.
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