Abroad is Bloody

So why would you decide to expand overseas? In the U.K., and a little shamingly, King George VI is reputed to have said: “Abroad is bloody.” He may have been biased, bigoted and a product of his era, but to judge by the efforts of retailers in Europe, it’s a view that may have struck a chord with some until relatively recently.

Many have preferred to stay home and not risk heading off-shore. Now the Internet has changed the game, shrinking countries and the number of stores that a retailer can support in the face of growing numbers of online consumers. The outcome is that the devil you don’t know — abroad — may actually be better than the one you do know when it comes to figuring out how to grow your organization.

This may, to an extent, explain why so many U.S. retailers have chosen London’s Regent Street and environs as the destination in which to make European landfall. The language is the same, the culture bears some similarity to that found in the U.S. and there’s a steady traffic of people between the two nations, meaning a degree of common understanding. Indeed, Brits may well know more about the shops on Fifth Avenue or even parts of San Francisco than they do of any of the major shopping thoroughfares in Berlin, Rome or (although less likely) Paris.

Yet, there are differences, and while Topshop and Ted Baker have made positive inroads in the U.S. in the same manner as Hollister and Urban Outfitters have found favour in the U.K., there are plenty who have tried and failed on both sides of the Pond (think Tesco’s Fresh & Easy in the U.S. or Best Buy in the U.K.).

In truth, success far away from home is dependent on adapting to a locality, keeping the spirit of what works back in the mother country, but also being keenly aware that you are unknown in a new market. Be prepared to change. If you don’t, things will not go well. Do so and the world may be your barcoded oyster. 

John Ryan is a journalist covering the retail sector, a role he has fulfilled for more than a decade. As well as being the European Editor of VMSD magazine, he writes for a broad range of publications in the U.K., the U.S. and Germany with a focus on in-store marketing, display and layout, as well as the business of store architecture and design. In a previous life, he was a buyer for C&A based in London and then Dusseldorf. He lives and works in London.