Brexit/EU tax complexity holds back independent fashion and jewellery brands across the continent. Revstance is building a solution.

As we were working towards launch and now that we have launched there has been a consistent theme when talking to independent brands about their growth plans… a common stumbling block. They almost always don’t know how to apply correct cross-border logic and are worried about tackling the complexity. This inadvertently slows down their growth due to the fear of the tax implications of customers buying their products in other countries.

For an independent brand taxes and pricing especially in an international setting can get complex really quickly. UK and EU brands when selling to customers in the UK and the rest of Europe can find it complicated to show the correct price to people based on their location due to a number of factors such as the breadth of the rules that need following and each country having its own set of taxes, including macro thresholds.

That’s why we are bringing in all our tax calculation logic in-house. As an independent as well, albeit a marketplace for sustainable independent fashion designers and jewellers, we have faced the same challenges, and have gone from vendor to vendor to find an appropriate solution but consistently met with challenges. It is due to this we decided to build our own internal capability which will allow us to adapt to changes in legislation quickly without the need to depend on a third party. This also allows us to ensure smooth cross-border transactions and provide independent brands with an avenue to grow beyond their local markets.

Our adaptable internal algorithm, now takes the brand details, the product details, and the customer details and calculates and displays the correct price including all the relevant taxes at the correct moment to the respective customer as they are viewing the site… wherever they are.

This is something that we will continue to extend over time, however by bringing this in-house we can react more swiftly to changes in the market. It also puts us in a strong position to guide the brands that are on our platform.

We are now better positioned to open up international markets to independent fashion and jewellery brands.