Export Market Scoring Explained

Export Market Scoring analyses up to 50 potential international markets and produces a composite score for each, ranked by their attractiveness for your specific business. Unlike generic market research, the scoring is personalised to your product category, your current geographic footprint, and your business's operational capacity.

Each market receives a score out of 100, built from five weighted components:

• Market size and growth (25%) — the size of the addressable market in your category and its 3-year growth trajectory
• Competitive intensity (20%) — the number and strength of established competitors in the market
• Trade accessibility (20%) — import duty rates, customs complexity, and whether a UK Free Trade Agreement exists
• Logistics feasibility (20%) — shipping cost and lead time from your current location to the market
• Payment and currency risk (15%) — currency stability, payment infrastructure maturity, and your FX exposure if you were to sell there

Weightings can be adjusted in the scoring tool to reflect your business priorities.

Each market's scorecard shows:

• Overall score (0-100)
• Score by component — so you can see why a market scores well or poorly
• Key opportunity — the single biggest reason to consider this market
• Key risk — the single biggest barrier or concern
• Estimated duty rate for your product HS code
• Similar markets already served by businesses like yours

Markets scoring above 70 are typically worth exploring actively. Markets between 50 and 70 are worth monitoring. Below 50 means significant barriers that would need addressing before entry.

Export Market Scoring uses your product category and HS code to calculate duty rates and market size. If your HS code is not set, go to Settings → Business Profile → Products and enter your primary HS code. You can score multiple product categories separately if you sell across different categories with different duty treatments.

Export Market Scoring is a prioritisation tool, not a market entry plan. Use it to narrow a long list of potential markets down to 3 to 5 worth deeper investigation. Once you have shortlisted, supplement the AskBiz scoring with on-the-ground research, conversations with local distributors, and engagement with the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) export support services.