3 Key Considerations for Overseas Business Expansion to Spain
Are you thinking about expanding your business overseas? Look no further than Spain! With a thriving economy, strategic location, and strong ties to Latin America, Spain offers unique opportunities for European and overseas business expansion.
Did you know that the total trade in goods and services between the UK and Spain was £34.2 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q3 2021? This is a remarkable statistic if you are considering an overseas business expansion across Europe. Or perhaps into the Spanish-speaking market.
Spain is an attractive country for business, welcoming cross-border trade. Moreover, Spain paves the way for bolder moves, like expansion into the Americas.
Given its sustained economic growth, the widespread use of Spanish, and strong trade relations with the UK, Spain is a promising opportunity for expanding business overseas.
Advantages of Expanding Your Business to Spain
#1 Strategic Location and Favorable Business Environment
Spain offers many advantages for doing business:
- Geography: Spain, covering 506,000 km², is the second-largest country in Western Europe, with 17 autonomous regions. This diversity leads to numerous business opportunities.
- Frontiers: Spain borders France and Andorra to the northeast, Portugal to the west, and the Bay of Biscay to the north. This facilitates international communication and expansion across Europe.
- Economy and Politics: Spain has a highly developed economy and stable socio-political situation. It ranks in the top five countries with the highest GDP and 14th globally.
- Population: With around 47 million people, Spain is one of the largest consumer markets in the EU.
#OptimationalTip: To take advantage of the proximity of Spain’s neighbouring countries, we recommend you seek out a linguistic partner that offers professional translation services for multiple languages. This way you can prepare for several new markets and optimise your resources.
#2 Thriving Market with Established British Presence
Below we will look at some current situations to understand the state of overseas business expansion and how the market is playing out.
UK’s Presence in Spain:
Over 900 British companies operate in Spain, finding fertile ground for growth. More than one million British people live in Spain, and over 16 million UK tourists visit annually. While English is familiar, many Spaniards do not speak it, making Spanish translation of your marketing content essential.
Industrial Sectors and Business Centres
Spain’s diverse market options are favorable for international business expansion. Key cities like Madrid and Barcelona, along with Bilbao, Valencia, Seville, Malaga, Zaragoza, Valladolid, and Vigo, offer considerable business potential. Prosperous sectors include textiles, food and beverages, metal manufacturing, chemicals, shipbuilding, automotive, machinery production, tourism, pharmaceuticals, and medical equipment.
Crisis Management and Growth Rate
In pre-COVID times, Spain was the fourth-largest economy in the EU and one of the fastest-growing in the euro area. The pandemic hit it hard, leading to an 11% drop in GDP in 2020. However, as a result of the political, economic, and social response to the crisis, they were able to recover by 5% in 2021. Moreover, growth is expected to remain high at 5.5% in 2022 and 4.9% in 2023.
In short: This may be the best time to prepare your cross-border strategy. So it makes sense to enlist professional translation services, especially if you already have a global website and require localisation for Spanish SEO.
#OptimationalTip: Spain ranks 25th (out of 35 European countries) in regards to English proficiency among its population. This means that, although it is an attractive country to expand your business internationally, the translation of your content becomes indispensable.
#3 Access to Wider Overseas Business Expansion
Due to its cultural and linguistic proximity—as a result of its historical legacy—Spain is considered a strategic location for penetrating the Latin American market. In addition, it benefits from multiple agreements to avoid double taxation in Central and South America, as well as reciprocal investment protection and promotion treaties.
Thus, partnership with Spanish companies can help UK businesses get a foothold there as well; this would be more time and cost-efficient.
With this said, your marketing translation into Spanish would have more than one effective use and can pay off in several foreign markets. Just remember to localise the content, as translation will make it understandable, but localisation will make it much more engaging.
Pst! Collaboration between Spain and Latin America seems to be going into high gear.
#OptimationalTip: Translation with a Spanish SEO focus allows you to re-signify the multilingual content strategy you have in place—or the one you are starting. The translation ROI will be higher if instead of redoing everything from scratch, you can focus your efforts on localising the existing materials.
Final Thoughts: Spain as Your Launchpad for Overseas Business Expansion
With numerous benefits, Spain should be in your sights for overseas business expansion. While there are challenges, like bureaucracy and language barriers, these are common in global ventures. Hundreds of British companies have already taken the leap and found success in Spain.
If you are on the same path, contact us today. Let us start planning your multilingual strategy to solve the biggest issue: Managing effective international communication without linguistic headaches.
