Alibaba welcomes trade agreement with China and urges SMEs to feel the benefit

Comment from Linda Kozlowski, new Head of International Business Development and Marketing (IBDM), Alibaba.com:
It is positive to see trade agreements worth £1.4bn agreed between David Cameron and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and it is important that some of the benefit is felt by SMEs as well as big business.

Data from Alibaba.com shows that demand for Chinese products continues to grow with UK SME interest in importing from China on the rise. China remains the most popular market for UK small business buyers, with 70 per cent of UK buyer enquiries being sent to Chinese businesses. That figure is significantly up on the same period in 2010 (56 per cent). Yet, buyer enquiries from China to the UK have fallen from 8.9% to 4.4% in the last year demonstrating that the UK needs to do more to encourage China to buy from here.

However, Alibaba.com research* showed that 80 per cent of small businesses in the UK are failing to embrace the global marketplace, with more than one quarter (26 per cent) considering themselves too small to trade with partners from outside the UK. Cultural and language barriers (21 per cent) coupled with trust issues (24 per cent) were cited as the main drawbacks.

The Government therefore has a role to play in invigorating small businesses’ passion for international trade and awakening a hunger for growth into new markets. International trading deals like the one agreed today are central to increasing the confidence of SMEs in exporting to developing markets such as China.

* Research conducted on behalf of Alibaba.com by Trends Research on a sample of 1400 UK small businesses during August 2010.
** Alibaba.com UK Q4 2010 general trade data (October – December 2010)