How Do Market Entry Challenges Vary Between the UK and the US?

We recently had a chat with Joanna Dodd, market entry expert with UK-based Rochester PR Group about UK vs. US market entry challenges: which are common and which are different.

First we started with whether the huge differences in country size mean companies face different challenges.

Although the UK is small, Joanna warns against underestimating the size of the opportunity or the competitive marketplace that you are entering and therefore the complexity of getting it right. Clients often describe the UK as a great “test” of their brand with a “if it can succeed in the UK, it can succeed anywhere” mentality.

Sophie: "In the US, start small, learn, correct, repeat"

On the other hand what we often see at GCE is that because the population of the US is so large, many foreign companies think “all I need is to get 1% of the market”, and they assume that a tiny market share means minimal effort and investment. But that is not how it works, it’s not a linear correlation. The added complexity when thinking of the US market is that it cannot be approached as a single country; it is almost more like the European market in that each State in the US may have its own regulations, taxation, laws, and then also its own culture and business practices. One option to consider is to focus on just one local market, perhaps even smaller than a State. Start small, learn, correct, repeat.