As a UK Amazon seller looking to grow, you may have your sights set on Europe. Expanding to Europe seems like an obvious next step, with great customer demand, stable markets and similar operational structures to the UK.  

But since Brexit, Pan-EU FBA is no longer a ‘plug-n-play’ option. Not only was selling to Europe easier before Brexit – it was cheaper too! So what’s changed? And how should sellers navigate post-Brexit landscape? 

In this article, we’ll explain exactly how to move forward with European expansion, the things to avoid, and how to protect margins and revenue.  

What’s changed after Brexit? Is Pan-EU still viable? 

For UK sellers on Amazon, Pan-European FBA programme made selling to multiple marketplaces seamless. One fulfilment centre, nine countries. Fast, cheap delivery wherever you were selling. Minimal friction. This was known as Unified FBA.  

You could store all your stock in the UK, allowing Amazon to move it across borders for you. All you needed to do was list eligible products in the required EU stores. 

However, this is no longer the case. 

Post-Brexit, Pan-EU Fulfilment only works if inventory is stored in an EU country. But by doing this, sellers introduce several issues and complexities. These are:  

• Additional VAT registrations 

You now have to register for VAT in EU countries when using FBA in Europe. Some countries may need you to have a fiscal or tax representative who is there to act on your behalf. Sellers must familiarise themselves with schemes like IOSS (Import One-Stop Shop and OSS (One-Stop Shop), which allow you to charge and remit VAT centrally.  

• Cross-border logistical challenges  

In addition to VAT and tax, there’s also the additional complexity of customs clearance. This has made expanding to Europe less seamless post-Brexit, often leading slower delivery times. There can also be infrastructure bottlenecks when using EU warehousing facilities instead of Unified FBA, as well as product regulation differences. All of these factors lead to more admin and require retailers to manage all aspects of delivery from start to end.  

• Higher setup and compliance costs  

Shipping to the EU now involves higher costs and effort on the seller’s part. Not only will you deal with higher shipping, but increased paperwork means that you’ll need more hours and resources spent on admin. Customs duties may also apply to products over a certain price threshold when goods reach the border. 

All of these changes can make international expansion challenging. Without the convenience of Unified FBA, Pan-EU is effectively a no-go for most UK sellers. Unless you already have a strong EU footprint or local infrastructure, sellers must be prepared to invest extra time and money into their Amazon business.  

Use the European Fulfilment Network (EFN) instead 

A more viable option for Amazon sellers in the UK may be the European Fulfilment Network (EFN). It’s a good starting point for expansion because your stock remains in the UK, giving retailers a chance to test the waters and grow without the same operational barriers as Pan-EU.  

This FBA option is often more realistic because you won’t need to ship all your inventory to another country initially. But there are trade-offs. The key is understanding how to get around these to ensure success.  

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of EFN FBA… 

Key benefits: 

• Keep your stock in the UK 

EFN FBA works by storing inventory in the UK and selling to other EU marketplaces. 

• No need for VAT in other countries 

This ensures that selling overseas is simple, which is ideal for UK sellers early in their expansion journey. No overseas VAT means less admin burden. 

• Simple setup 

It’s super easy to get started with EFN FBA. No need to ship inventory into EU warehouses and orders are fulfilled cross-border to the EU each time a sale is made. This works well for sellers with low international order volume.  

The drawbacks: 

• Higher landed cost 

You will incur per-unit fees or shipping and handling, increasing the landed cost per item. This eats into profit margins and can make low-margin goods non-viable.  

• You will need to increase product price 

As a result of higher costs and lower margins, sellers will need to ramp up prices to overseas buyers to maintain profits. This may make it more difficult to enter a competitive market.  

• Slower delivery times 

Without overseas storage and localised distribution centres, fulfilment timeframes are longer.  

So, while EFN has lower barriers to entry, sellers will need to adjust pricing and consider delivery downsides. Both higher pricing and slower delivery impact competitiveness. This is particularly an issue in countries where buyers are more price sensitive, such as Germany and France.  

For EFN FBA to work successfully, you will need a solid pricing strategy and there must be sufficient product differentiation to make your offering stand out.  

Check product eligibility (on the Pan-EU page)

If you decide to expand via the European Fulfilment Network, the first step is to check eligibility of products in Seller Central. Confusingly, you actually need to go to the Pan-EU eligibility page for this bit. You won’t be switching on the Pan-EU programme – you’re just there to use the eligibility checker! Despite the page name, the tool displays all ASINs that are eligible for cross-border fulfilment.  

It also shows you any that are not allowed by category, size or compliance issues. It’s important to check this first, otherwise EFN setup will be a waste of time when you discover your product isn’t eligible later on.  

Other things to think about are: 

• Trade and regulatory compliance for the destination country – so things like labels or certification.  

• Country of Origin (COO) – sellers must provide this when shipping cross-border from the UK to Europe.  

• Condition of item must be ‘new’ – unlike selling within the UK, ‘used’ condition products will not be allowed.  

• Cross-border restrictions on Hazmat goods – all ‘dangerous goods’ and batteries are prohibited for international selling. 

Create manual listings – DO NOT use the BIL tool 

It can be tempting to use Amazon’s Build International Listings (BIL) feature. But if you ask most experienced sellers, they’ll probably tell you to avoid it. While it was designed to simplify international listings, the reality is that it just doesn’t do the job. 

BIL has been widely criticised for the following: 

• Inaccurate or even inactive listings 

There are reports of BIL automatically lowering prices, making listings inaccurate due to glitches, and even turning listings to inactive. Causing lost sales and creating an admin nightmare.  

• Messy listing relationships and syncing issues 

Many sellers have reported that there are syncing errors with BIL, as well as not connecting certain marketplaces. 

• Random exclusions can occur 

Some SKUs have been randomly added to the ‘exclusions’ list in target marketplaces. To try and correct the problem, you’ll need to delete and relist or try a different browser to rule out session glitches.  

• Terrible translation of content  

Furthermore, the machine translation of product copy is mediocre at best. This messes with everything, such as your product title, descriptions and keywords. The tool also doesn’t factor in cultural differences, such as measurement metrics, making it hard for international buyers to get the information they need from your product page.  

Here’s how to create listings instead… 

Best practice for international product listings is to manually create them yourself. Yes, it’s more time-consuming. But doing this means you have full control of how your listing looks. You also get to customise and add nuance or cultural information that can help your listings convert.  

To make listing creation more efficient, you can upload flat files (inventory file templates). This is a great hack for bulk items that would otherwise take a lot of time. 

Localise listings (don’t just translate) 

As mentioned, the BIL tool’s translation capabilities are pretty limited. Even if linguistically, it was decent, translating content alone is not enough. International product listings should be localised too if you want to appeal to consumers. 

It’s important to adapt the listing to fit the language, culture and geographic differences of each country.  

Here are some tips to help you get started:

1) Localise language

After you translate the listing, make sure you edit the wording so the language is localised. To do this, you’ll need to know more about your intended audience. Things like cultural nuance really matter for healthy conversion.  

2) Remove colloquialisms 

Colloquial phrases and idioms should also be replaced, as these will not make sense in translation.  

3) Change important metrics 

Sizing, weights and measurements all need to be updated. This is key. Customers want convenience and they need to be able to determine whether a product is suitable for them without having to do a metric conversion.  

4) Adapt phrasing for consumer behaviour 

Understanding local shopper behaviour will help you prioritise messaging. For instance, some countries may be particularly price sensitive. If this is the case, you may want to highlight value for money higher up in the copy.  

5) Optimise local SEO 

You should also localise your SEO efforts. People in other countries will use different search terms. Use tools like Helium 10 to find top search terms in the target language. 

6) Create language variations for A+ content  

If you have A+ content, make sure you use language variations. This helps you publish your content in multiple languages. Be sure to also upload translated versions of banners and text modules.  

7) Oh, and don’t forget the images… 

Often overlooked, product listing images are another feature that can be localised. By using country-specific imagery with local language, metric sizing and location-based lifestyle context, sellers can help people make better buying decisions. And this simple tweak alone can quickly boost conversation rates.  

Nail advertising (your strategy for offsetting higher fees)

Having an Amazon ad strategy is crucial if you want international expansion to be a success. But it’s important to understand that PPC for Amazon EU works differently to the UK.  

Firstly, the EU has fewer high-volume keywords for sellers to target. And search behaviour is a little more fragmented.  

Fragmentation is due to diversification of search methods. For instance, there’s a shift towards conversational searches on Amazon. Plus, users tend to rely on other platforms, not just Amazon, to source products. So for some countries, you may want to consider where external traffic is coming from.  

Sellers also need to be aware that each country has its own market trends. So you’ll want to adjust PPC bidding strategies based on those.  

Remember, if you want to expand to Europe, there are higher EFN fees (and slightly higher retail prices) to offset. So it’s important to be strategic with your ads.  

How to optimise Amazon ads for the EU:

1) Do not just copy over keywords from the UK 

It can be tempting to just copy over the search phrases you’re using in the UK. But keywords and search volumes can be vastly different depending which country you’re selling. 

2) Use marketplace-specific search terms 

Each country will need its own unique keywords list. You can use Amazon’s auto-suggest and competitor analysis as a starting point. Then use specialised tools to get data on search terms and search volumes. Be sure to conduct native research to nail those cultural nuances.  

3) Use smaller, effective keyword sets 

Focus on precise, long-tail keywords and well-structured campaigns. When you build smaller yet powerful keyword sets, you can increase conversion and offset the higher costs of EFN. 

4) Make sure ad copy is localised 

As well as country-specific keywords, you also need to adapt ad copy so it’s localised. 

Let’s talk revenue – timelines and expectations  

Expanding from the UK to Europe on Amazon post-Brexit is still achievable – and still worth it. But only if you find a way to work around the changes and start small. Launching via EFN FBA is a good initial option when sales volumes are modest. And as long as you ensure everything is fully localised, your products are already proven in the UK, you adjust pricing to protect margins, and keep monitoring and adjusting your ads, there’s no reason why you can’t enjoy significant revenue growth. 

In terms of revenue expectations, there are a lot of factors at play. Everything from pricing and competition to marketplace-specific buying trends/behaviours can impact how well your listings do.  

But in our experience, it’s possible for a seller’s total EU revenue to match their UK revenue if listings and ads are localised properly. While this isn’t a guarantee, it’s a realistic goal for anyone looking to expand their business from the UK to the EU in the current climate. To find out more about how long it takes for ads to work, take a look at our related blog post here.

We also urge sellers to have a strategy in place from day one. Launching in the EU with a careful approach to localisation will save you the headache of having to fix issues further down the line. It also creates a solid foundation for you to scale when you are ready.  

For help with growing your Amazon UK business to European marketplaces, get in touch with Seller Presto. We have years of experience helping retailers optimise, streamline and scale. Call 01642 054694 or email info@sellerpresto.com to find out more.