Pricing for Export Markets

Pricing for export markets is more complex than domestic pricing because:

1. Your costs are different — landed costs (shipping, duties, customs) add to COGS, often by 15–40%

2. Local market dynamics differ — what's considered expensive in one market is cheap in another

3. Currency fluctuations — a price set in your home currency becomes more or less competitive in the local market as FX rates move

4. Competitor sets differ — who you compete with in the export market may be very different from your domestic competitors

A pricing decision that works in the UK may be completely wrong for Germany or the UAE.

Before setting any export price, use the AskBiz Landed Cost Calculator to get the real unit cost for each target market:

• Product cost
• International shipping
• Import duties (varies by country and HS code)
• VAT/GST in the destination country (you may need to register and remit this)
• Local handling / last-mile delivery
• Your return rate in that market (typically higher for cross-border)

Your export price floor = landed cost ÷ (1 − target gross margin). If this is not competitive in the target market, the market may not be viable at current costs.

Before setting your export price:

1. Check the local sell price of equivalent products on the dominant marketplace in that market (Amazon.de, Noon.com in UAE, Lazada in Southeast Asia)

2. Check direct competitor websites in the local market — some brands price differently by geography

3. Assess local purchasing power — a price that is mid-range in the UK may be premium in Eastern Europe or budget in Switzerland

AskBiz's Export Market Scoring tool provides market attractiveness scores that incorporate local pricing benchmarks for your category.

If you price in your home currency (e.g. GBP), FX movements change your effective local price without you doing anything. A 10% weakening of GBP vs EUR means your product becomes 10% cheaper for German customers — good for sales, but a signal that you may have room to raise EUR prices and capture the margin.

Best practice for export pricing:

• Price in local currency where you have significant volumes — this gives customers a stable price and puts FX risk on you to manage (hedge or absorb)
• Review export prices quarterly for FX impact
• Use the FX Risk Modeller to model your revenue exposure before entering a new market
• Hedge material exposures — if you invoice > £10k/month in foreign currency, consider a forward contract to fix your rate