Welcome To Export To Holland

Welcome To Export To Holland

You can view a video version of this blog @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-3PBBP2om8.

Welcome to our new blog all about doing business with the Netherlands, we intend to post articles at least once a month which will focus on different aspects of doing business in and around Holland and keep you up to with important business related news stories. We welcome comments and questions, we will do our best to help and you never know, your request for advice might be the basis of one of our future blogs.


Let’s start by telling you some basic facts about Holland, I’m sure you will know some of this already but experience has taught me never to assume anything, and I might just be able to add to you knowledge:-


• Technically Holland is a region of the Netherlands but when we refer to Holland, as is the case with many people, we mean the whole of the Netherlands.

• The country is located in North West Europe and borders the North Sea to the North and West, Belgium to the South and Germany to the east.

• The official language is Dutch but everyone in Holland speaks near fluent English, it makes doing business very easy with minimal language barriers.


• The country has a population of just over sixteen million people, it is the 11th most populated country in Europe and the 61st most populated country in the world, but opportunities go far further than this as Holland is often seen as an ideal gateway to the whole of North Europe for business.

• The Netherlands has a prosperous and open economy, which depends heavily on foreign trade. The economy is noted for stable industrial relations, moderate unemployment and inflation, a sizable current account surplus, and an important role as a European transportation hub.

• In 2008 the GDP of Holland was $672 billion which placed it 21st in the world.

• The major business centres in Holland are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague.

• The major industries in Holland are Agriculture, Chemicals, Clothing, Diamond Cutting, Fertilizers, Fishing, Food Processing, Forestry, Iron and Steel, Oil and Gas, printing, Ship Building, Textiles and Tobacco Processing.

Holland is home to many international businesses which you will have heard of including ABM Amro (Financial), Akzo Nobel (Chemicals), Amstel (Brewing), DAF Trucks (Motor Industry), Grolsh (Brewing), Heineken (Brewing), ING Group (Financial), KLM (Airline), Norfolkline (Ferries), Royal Dutch Shell (Oil), Spyker (Motor Industry), TomTom (Motor Industry), Trust (IT).

OK so we have identified that the Netherlands is a good place to do business, and it works in a similar way to the UK, with many familiar businesses and brands. So what’s next, how do you get started doing business with the Dutch? You can leap straight in and start ringing companies in Holland, then jump on a budget airline flight to visit them but that is a long way from being the best way, instead we recommend you follow a proven process:-

1) Do your Market Research, check there is a requirement for your product and/or service in Holland (and Western Europe). What is the size of the market, what is the competition, how much can you charge and how does that compare to your existing cost base. Once you know that the market is large enough and that there is sufficient margin in your product or service, only then should you proceed. Remember some of the most valuable market research is that which allows you to make an informed decision against proceeding with a costly overseas expansion.

2) OK, next you have a choice, you can rush into the market and start doing business, make mistakes but learn and evolve from them and eventually (hopefully) have a successful business, or you can look at how your competitors do business in Holland, learn from the mistakes they have already made and hit the ground running. I know which way I would go!.

3) Next take all the knowledge that you have gained from steps 1 and 2 and sit down and write a market entry strategy. Write down exactly how you intend to be successful in Holland and all the actions you need to make. Keep revisiting this document and you are bound to come up with ideas to improve it. Then get it reviewed by as many people as possible, they will have additional ideas. Only once you are convinced that you have the best possible strategy then proceed to the next stage.

4) Now you need to setup some local representation, that might be an agent, distributor or reseller. It might be your business opening their own office and recruiting staff or it might mean UK staff visiting Holland on a regular basis to meet with Customers, Which ever option you choose, plans need to be made and actions taken.

5) Now it is time to start successfully trading with Holland and generate the results that you richly deserve.


Larger organisations might want to speed up the market entry process by setting up a Dutch subsidiary one day one or even acquiring a existing Dutch Company.


Well my time with you is drawing to an end for this month, I hope I have been able to pass on some useful information and I look forward to talking to you again next month.

Export To Holland


Export To Holland and the www.exporttoholland.co.uk website are brands of Copernicus International Consulting Limited (http://www.copernicus-consulting.com/).

We provide help and support for companies wishing to start trading with Holland.

In many cases there are government grants available which will cover some or all of our fees for these projects.

For further information please visit http://www.exporttoholland.co.uk/, email us at info@exporttoholland.co.uk or call us on +44 (0) 870 879 5315.