Exporting in an evolving global environment

Taking on the world

Y Bell Group (trading as YBell Fitness) is one business that adapted by building an e-commerce presence in response to changing customer behaviours.

“We could see the shift to people buying online – there was a huge opportunity there for us," said David Sigler, former Interim Chief Commercial Officer and General Counsel at Y Bell Group. "We launched our US e-commerce site in June 2020, which was a lifesaver for us. It gave us a method of selling our product straight to customers to get cash flow back into the business.”

Some businesses have also flagged that, the way they had to adapt in response to the market will likely change the way they operate long term.

Based in Brisbane, EFTLab develops and sells payment platforms to banks and businesses. After securing three global contracts, it needed financial support to scale up quickly and get the right team and resources in place to support new projects.

EFTLab’s options with commercial banks were limited. Fortunately, we stepped in to provide a loan to support employee hiring and development to fulfil the new contracts. 

On the challenges of exporting, Veronika Bilek, CEO at EFTLab explained that many businesses adapted well to communicating virtually in place of physical meetings but in some cases, face-to-face engagements are still crucial. “In some countries, it’s okay to do online meetings, but in other cultures, they prefer to have people come and sit with them and talk for hours," she highlighted. 

"It’s important to build relationships with people in your target countries who can become your representatives, attend face-to-face meetings, and engage with customers locally in their native language."