Not so long ago, the United Kingdom was one of the main countries where you could buy clothes of your most favourite brand for less. However, later everything changed significantly. What is more, some brands have even stopped shipping their production to the EU countries. This means that even if you want to buy their products, you often can’t do it simply because of the shipping restrictions.
Why did this happen? We will try to answer this question in this text.
It is all because of Brexit
After the UK left the European Union, a number of changes occurred in the country: the rules of trade with other countries changed, the benefits granted to the UK as an EU state were abolished.
The changed conditions forced many companies to reconsider their strategy. Clothing companies are no exception and have faced new conditions for sending goods to foreign countries and increased taxes.
For example, after the UK left the Union, all the shipments to the EU countries must be declared at customs. Usually, shipments with a value exceeding 22 EUR are subject to import VAT. Shipments whose value exceeds the amount determined by the country, you will have to pay additionally as the import VAT tax is applicable. In addition, you may have to pay a declaration fee. It is important to note, that alcohol products, perfumes and toilet waters, tobacco and tobacco products are not exempted from import duties as well.
So it is clear that the increased price, longer waiting time for the product and additional paperwork are not really attractive to buyers. In almost all cases, it is easier and more convenient for customers to choose a product sold in their country or in another EU country.
However, it should be noted that there are people who, despite the restrictions, still willingly buy goods from the UK. Online platforms such as atvido.com make the process way more easier than sending parcels via postoffice.co.uk. Of course, in such cases, people usually tend to purchase goods that are made in the UK, one-of-a-kind and their equivalents are not sold in other countries.
Changes have not increased UK companies’ profit either
Buying clothes from the UK and ordering to ship them to any other EU country is not only unattractive to customers. It is also unprofitable for UK companies. As soon as the new order came into force, many companies were in no hurry to make drastic changes. However, they quickly saw that they were losing money by not adapting to the new rules.
For a while, customers ordered products out of habit and only learned about the changed shipping order when the products reached their country. Most of the time, they received a message from the post office that their package was being held at customs and needed to be declared. Sometimes the post office filled out the declaration itself and presented the customer with an invoice that he had to pay in order to pick up the package. Such cases have largely deterred buyers. When they saw the amount they would have to pay, they would rather not pick up the shipment.
What happened then? After the shipment was not collected by the buyer, it was returned to the sender. And the sender had to pay not only the shipping costs, but also the return costs. A large number of such cases urged the companies to make a decision rather not to send goods to EU countries. All in all, the situation after Brexit creates unattractive conditions both – for customers and for clothing manufacturers as well.
