This post was originally published on The Economic Times
LONDON: For small businesses around the world, selling their goods in the United States has become a headache-inducing patchwork of new tariffs, customs duties and paperwork. But Anna Worthington has not been deterred.
As the product director of Ruffians, a small chain of British barbershops, Worthington has forged ahead with plans to sell the company’s grooming products in the United States. This fall, Ruffians started online sales through Nordstrom and Amazon.
“If you want to be a brand and want to make it work, you need to make it work in the U.S.,” she said.
The United States is the first overseas market for Ruffians, and the company is willing to take some financial pain to see its bet succeed. Worthington said prices on the products, including special holiday gift sets, were being kept so low that the company might not make any profit. But her priority is getting enough sales to persuade Nordstrom to offer the products in its physical stores next year.
President Donald Trump’s tariffs have raised the stakes, she said, and she expects the buyers at Nordstrom to be watching how she handles the tariffs and additional customs requirements. “That risk of uncertainty
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