New support to help 7,000 businesses export online

A new programme has been introduced with the aim of helping 7,000 UK SMEs attract overseas customers via the internet.

Business Secretary Vince Cable unveiled the initiative at a UK Trade and Investment exporting conference, where he announced that, for the first time, the UK will have an approved global network of business-to-business support to rival the world’s best.

It is anticipated that by the end of 2014, UK SMEs will benefit from 40 approved support networks in UKTI’s top high growth markets, including China, India and the UAE.

The UKTI campaign, entitled Grow Online, Expand Worldwide, will deliver training and advice to SMEs and provide funding to help improve their web capability over the next two years.

“Britain’s 220,000 online retailers export more than the rest of Europe’s e-retailers combined, but other countries are catching up fast,” he said. “UK companies need to stay ahead of the game and capitalise on the rapid growth of mobile technology and social media to find new international customers.

“Helping SMEs to export is a crucial part of the Government’s plan to rebalance our economy, create jobs and boost prosperity. Britain has moved back up into fifth place in the IMF’s worldwide ranking of exports of goods and services – this campaign will help even more businesses to tap into the global appetite for British goods and services.”