‘Made in Britain’ labels command more cash abroad

British exporters branding their products accordingly could unlock up to £2.1bn across the eight countries covered by a Barclays’ survey, it claimed.

Rebecca McNeil, head of business lending at Barclays Corporate Banking, said the eight markets – US, Germany, France, Republic of Ireland, Brazil, South Africa, China and Qatar – were growing faster than established trading partners.

New and emerging markets ​

“While British businesses are currently reliant on the EU and the US for the majority of their exports, they are well placed to expand into new and emerging markets,”​ she said.

“The report shows that the biggest premiums for British branded goods will be paid in these markets, not the developed markets.” ​

Although these new markets could be more challenging to enter, those that persevere would experience a greater return, McNeil claimed.

“Rather than focusing on seemingly saturated developed markets, exporters should seriously consider looking further afield as there are bigger premiums to be had when products are marketed as ‘Made in Britain’,”​ she added.

Two thirds of respondents (64%) would be more inclined to purchase a product carrying the Union Flag, the survey found.

The only case where this is not true is for alcoholic beverages where the branding ‘Made in Scotland’ adds a greater premium than ‘Made in Britain’ ​in several regions, particularly in the US and Ireland.

However, this is not replicated in new and emerging markets where alcoholic beverages branded as ‘Made in Britain’ commanded bigger premiums in China and South Africa.

Of those surveyed for Barclays, 31% from new and emerging markets said they had knowingly paid a premium for products from Great Britain. The same question for developed economies was just 14%.

Willingness to pay ​

The label ‘Made in Britain’ triggers a willingness to pay up to 7% more among customers in new and emerging markets than for products without a declared country of origin.

At least half of the respondents in all countries perceived the quality of British goods to be ‘good’ or ‘very good’. Scottish, English and Welsh products were also perceived positively, but often not to the same extent.

The additional average gain per transaction for food products marketed as 'Made in Britain' ​are highest in Qatar (£0.46) and for alcoholic beverages in the US (£0.42).

The research combined Office for National Statistics export data with a survey of 7,610 individuals.

Other findings from the report include:

• Calculating an average premium made by branding goods exports as ‘Made in Britain’ showed gains from £22.8M in Ireland to £742M in China and £823M in the US.
• In terms of perception, goods from Scotland and Wales were most frequently perceived as ‘standing for tradition’, whereas English and British products were most frequently described as ‘internationally recognised’.
• Scottish and Welsh goods exports are less dependent on EU countries than English exports. In the second financial quarter of 2014 goods exports to the EU accounted for half of English exports but just 45% of Scottish and Welsh exports.