The UK recently made the sad decision to leave the EU. For some people the decision may have been expected, but for us, it came as a big and unwelcome disappointment.
The question we are left with is, "where to next?" and unfortunately we do not yet know the answer. The implications of exiting the EU are still unclear for both the UK and the other EU members. In the short term, we will be continuing to run our business the same way as before, without any changes. When we eventually find out how trading between our countries will be governed, we will make the necessary changes to our operating model.
BUSINESS AS USUAL
For us, Brexit means Business as Usual. But what does 'business as usual' mean? It means we will continue trading in the same way as we have since we started, and will do so until things need to change. Once we know what changes are needed, we will look further into our contingency plans. But any plans we make will first consider our clients.
Warehousing
For now we will continue to warehouse our stock in the UK, and will dispatch our goods from the UK. We will continue working with European and international distributors, and will supply directly to European resellers in countries where we do not have distributors.
Pricing
Following the Brexit announcement, the value of the Pound has fallen significantly. But while Long Paws is physically based in the UK, but we are not a GBP denominated company. We produce our goods mostly in the far east, and we sell our goods around the world. We are mostly a USD denominated company. What this means for you is that our prices are not affected by the recent falls in the value of the Pound. We still buy our goods in dollars, and neither the USD/GBP or the EUR/GBP fluctuations have any affect on the prices that we trade in the EU.
We are NOT and have no intention of raising our prices as a result of the Brexit announcement.
VAT & Duties
We do not need to charge VAT to fellow EU VAT registered companies, and there are still no import or export duties to worry about when buying goods from us.
Deliveries
As with the cost of our stock, we charge for delivery in Euro's not in Pounds, and you are therefore not affected by the fall in the value of the pound.
If you have any questions, please contact us. As soon as we have more information, we will update you.
WHAT CONTINGENCY PLANNING ARE WE MAKING?
While the UK was deciding how to vote, we were looking at "What if...." - if we leave the EU, what will it mean for us and for our clients? Unfortunately that has become a reality.
The options we will consider include:
- opening a warehouse on the European continent
- moving all our operations to the EU
- registering a second company in the EU
- transferring the Long Paws business registration into the EU
- transferring the Long Paws business registration to a 3rd party country
- registering with the EU for VAT purposes
- moving some of our manufacturing to the EU
And these are just some of the ideas we looked at. One of the ideas we liked the most, was moving our entire operation to a remote island :-) but that option was thrown out.
WHY SHOULD YOU WORK WITH US?
- We are a young and dynamic pet brand and we are growing fast
- Our brand awareness is building in the markets in which we trade
- We plan for economic changes and don't panic when crises loom
- We have been in business for 5 years with more rapid growth ahead of us
- We put our clients first and do everything to make sure they are happy
- Quality is important to us - we only produce produce we are happy to use
- Our range is growing continuously
- We love our pets and we love what we do
WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW?
Right now, we are busy .... very busy. Over the past few months, we have started working with a number of new distributors. We now have a distributor in Romania and a new distributor in Spain. We have also started working with distributors in South Korea, Taiwan, the United States, and we are speaking to distributors in Japan and Australia.
We have also been working on new designs to complement our range. Our new Green Comfort Collection design was launched in June and is doing very well. We have another new design that we will be finalising soon and will launch towards the new year. We are about to go into production with two new styles of leash. We are also working on some new designs for our Pet Water Bottles, and are in the early stages with some other new ideas, but those are too new to discuss.
