2020 has been a tumultuous year. Following the detrimental effects of the Coronavirus, the rapid demise of high-street retail, rising unemployment rates, and the ever-closer looming deadline of new Brexit trading rules on December 31; it is hoped that nothing further arrives to threaten our health and our sanity.
With Christmas just around the corner, and the long-awaited introduction of approved Covid-19 vaccines, it seems there is a silver lining, yet supply chains ultimately now find themselves under more pressure than ever before.
With fewer than 30 days left for businesses to prepare for new trading rules with Europe from 1 January 2021, is your business ready to overcome the challenges of 2020, and get ahead, to successfully trade within a post-Brexit Europe?
Advice For Trading
Initial advice for businesses is to familiarise themselves with the relevant Government documentation. Downloading the trader checklist is essential to fully understand and comply with the new European trade rules and regulations.
From checking when you need to make declarations to making custom declarations, and checking whether your supply chain is ready; whether you buy or sell goods once a year or every day, no matter what type, volume or value, if you intend to trade with Europe from January onward, you need to make that sure you are fully prepared.
Advice For Retailers
At the beginning of the year, coinciding with the implementation of the first pandemic lockdown, supply chains witnessed a significant shock to their inventory demand and logistics operations.
As new cross-border trading conditions threaten potential further supply chain disruption, retailers will want to mitigate these circumstances as much as possible, especially throughout the festive period.
To avoid as much disruption as possible, many UK retailers may stockpile their inventory, in addition to selecting alternative supply routes to avoid potential operations risks. Although this solution could incur additional fees for businesses, it limits damage to customer loyalty by compensating for the expected delays at ports, allowing familiar products to remain available, and in good supply.
Prepare Your Business
Following the UK's departure in January 2020, further time was granted to agree on a trade deal. Whether or not a deal is agreed changes will still happen, including the introduction of border checks. Without free trade agreements, World Trade Organization (WTO) rules will apply and increased taxes for goods travelling between the UK and the EU will be incurred.
Now we're in the final phase of talks, the new rules for how the UK and EU will live, work and trade together are in the spotlight and the countdown is on for businesses to prepare for even more change, in what has already been a tremendously testing year, so far.
With so many changes lying ahead, businesses must be checking their paperwork, preparing for border delays, and think of alternative supply chain routes should they need them.
Ensure you are ready and future-proof your business plans and warehouse designs. Email: admin@scnuk.com or call: 01423 815 941
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