The Final 10% of Your Expansion Strategy
We’re more connected than ever, thanks to the rapid expansion of digital tech in recent years. However, the global marketplace in 2026 feels fragmented.
While your domestic UK success provides a firm foundation, going global now requires navigating a “multi-polar” regulatory environment. Your success no longer depends solely on the quality of your product or the efficiency of your shipping routes. Instead, digital sovereignty, shifting trade tariffs, and the rapid integration of AI into local governance dominate.
When you transition from a domestic leader to a global player, failure occurs in the final 10% because technicalities outweigh the initial vision.
The “landed cost” reality check
Tariffs are changing, and many have risen as governments protect domestic supply chains. If your expansion plans rely on manufacturing cost alone, you’re exposed the moment the goods hit a border.
To protect your margins, calculate Total Landed Cost. This brings together the product price, freight, insurance, customs duties, handling charges, and local taxes into one number you can price against.
Environmental policy now adds another layer, as factors like the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism place a carbon price on certain imports that did not exist two years ago, so you should model landed cost per market before committing.
Localisation vs. translation
A common final-stage error involves the assumption that translating your website into the language of the country you’ve set up in equates to localising your brand. To truly make your business local, you need to adapt your payment gateways to match regional preferences, such as Pix in Brazil or mobile wallets across Southeast Asia.
You also need to adjust your tone of voice to respect cultural nuances and ensure your user experience matches local browsing habits. Before you go live, carry out a comprehensive cultural sensitivity audit to protect your reputation. A marketing campaign that feels playful in London could be seen as unprofessional or even offensive in international markets.
Seek counsel from global leaders
When contracts, compliance, and IP enter the picture, risk rises quickly. Cross-border law in 2026 spans trade disputes, AI regulation, data privacy, and tax exposure, which makes ad-hoc legal advice insufficient.
A world-class international law firm helps you design a global structure that focuses on protecting your business as you scale, so engage experienced international counsel early rather than waiting for a dispute to force your hand.
The ‘Employer of Record’ shortcut
Hiring locally often becomes urgent near the end of expansion, yet setting up a foreign legal entity can take six to 12 months, taking up the capital you still need for growth. Employer of Record platforms step in as the legal employer, running compliant payroll, taxes, and benefits under current local labour laws while you manage day-to-day work.
This structure lets you test demand and build relationships with a local team before committing to the administrative side of your new base out of the UK.
Digital sovereignty and data residency
Where you store customer data now carries regulatory weight equal to how you secure it. Many countries enforce data residency laws that require citizen data to remain within national borders, which rules out a single central server model for global operations.
Cloud providers such as Azure and Google offer regional data zones that keep information physically local while maintaining performance and security. Check that your architecture supports regional data silos before launch, because retrofitting data residency after regulators intervene is costly and disruptive.