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Kitchen tables are launch-pad for UK’s trade fight-back

[ January 24, 2025   //   ]

Trading conditions in the UK may be tough at the moment with rising insolvencies but there has also been an upsurge in new small and medium-sized exporters and traders, DHL said in an Outlook Call on 24 January.

DHL Express Europe chief executive Mike Parra told the online gathering that “a lot of folks have started their own businesses”. These companies were often small home-based ‘kitchen table’ start-ups working in anything from fast fashion to electronics.

DHL was able to provide them with global reach and help deal with logistics, customs and other issues in over 200 countries, allowing them to quote fully landed costs to customers using their websites or social media.

DHL had also held a number of gatherings in the UK and worldwide bringing together small business owners with DHL’s experts in finance, logistics, finance and trading regulations.

Parra pointed out that Amazon was once a small start-up based in a garage before growing into today’s global behemoth. In the space of a couple of decades.

As for Brexit, Mike Parra and chief executive of DHL Supply Chain UK, Saul Resnick considered that some 90% of the effects of the UK’s departure from the EU had now worked their way through the UK supply chain and trading patterns. They said: “We now understand the impact, though we are still fine-tuning solutions.”

Many distribution centres and logistics capacity had moved out of the UK into the EU in the immediate wake of Brexit and some UK traders had been forced to stop offering certain goods in the EU, perhaps the most high profile being high end retailer Harrods.

But the UK remained a major market and had the potential to bounce, despite concerns over increased National Insurance and other costs

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