A practical, no-nonsense guide to getting your brand into European markets: readiness, route to market, pricing, compliance and the step most brands get stuck on, actually reaching the buyers.
Before you chase a single buyer, be honest about whether the brand is ready to travel. That means enough stock or production headroom to service an order, a landed price that still works after freight and duty, artwork and labelling that can be adapted to each market's rules, and the paperwork a buyer will ask for. You do not need to be perfect, but you do need to be able to say yes when a distributor asks "can you supply?"
There are really three ways in. Sign an importer or distributor who buys your stock and sells it on within a market. Sell direct to on-trade and off-trade accounts yourself, which keeps your margin but takes time and reach. Or use an outreach partner to do the finding and chasing for you, then close the deals yourself. Most brands entering Europe start with importers and distributors, because they carry the logistics, the duty and the local relationships.
Work your price backwards from the shelf. Take a realistic retail price in the target market, strip out local VAT, the retailer's margin and the distributor's margin, then check what is left covers your cost, freight and duty with a profit you are happy with. If the maths only works at volumes you cannot yet supply, fix that before you pitch. Sort your Incoterms, minimum order quantities and lead times too, because a buyer will ask.
Every market has its own rules on labelling, ingredients, excise duty and import documentation, and they are not optional. Alcohol strength statements, allergen and health information, language requirements and duty stamps all vary. Your importer will usually guide you through their market's specifics, which is another reason the right partner matters, but you should know your own product's compliance position before you start.
This is where most export plans stall. Finding names is easy. The hard part is the personalised outreach and the months of persistent follow-up it takes to turn a name into a reply. A tight list of well-matched buyers, worked properly, beats a giant list that never gets chased. Email once a fortnight and you are one of 1,400 messages that buyer sees, which is why it does not work. The whole job of an email is to start a conversation, and that only happens when you send often enough and follow up.
Steps one to four you can do yourself or with your importer. Step five is the one we take off your plate. We approach up to ninety named European buyers on your brand over four months, in your voice, and chase until they reply, then hand you every warm buyer to close. There is no commission, and the contacts stay with you.
There are two ways to work with us. Export: sixty to ninety international buyers, email-led, over four months. UK: email and phone outreach to independent UK venues, priced per venue. If your first market is the UK, start with selling to UK venues instead.
Not necessarily, but your landed price has to work. If the numbers only add up at volumes you cannot yet supply, sort that before you pitch buyers.
For our outreach, yes, the UK is included in our first wave. If the UK is your main focus, our per-venue UK outreach is usually the better fit than international export.
It varies by category and market, but persistent outreach over a few months is realistic. First replies come quickly, first orders take longer, which is why we run over four months and chase throughout.
We focus on finding and winning the buyers. Compliance, duty and logistics sit with you and your importer, who knows their market's rules. We make sure the introductions happen.
We quote for your brand on a short call. No commission and no tie-in, and every contact is handed to you at the end.
Steps one to four are yours. Step five is ours. Tell us about your brand and your target markets, and we will come back with who we would approach and how the outreach would run.
Book a call byron@globaldrinksales.comEmail us for a full sales presenter and a walkthrough of the whole process.