The Event

Going Global Live 2026 London · November 11–12 2026

A two-day show at ExCeL London built entirely around companies moving into new international markets. The programme runs across cross-border logistics and legal compliance, cultural intelligence, global customer acquisition, trade expertise and market entry, with keynote speakers drawn from Microsoft, Meta, TikTok, HSBC and Wise.

Here is the part worth planning around. Four other shows run at ExCeL on exactly the same two days: White & Private Label Expo London, Retail Supply Chain & Logistics Expo, Smart Retail Tech Expo, and E-commerce Packaging & Labelling Expo. Going Global Live also sits alongside The Great British Business Show. One flight to London on 11 and 12 November puts you inside five shows.

View event site → What this means for EU expansion

The Room

Who's expected at Going Global Live 2026

Most trade shows have an international corner. This one is the international corner, scaled up to fill a hall. Everyone walking the floor is either planning a move into a new market or selling something to companies that are, which makes for an unusually focused set of conversations.

The co-location changes the mix again. With packaging, retail technology, supply chain and private label shows running in the same building on the same days, the visitor crowd spills between halls and the exhibitor list you meet is wider than the Going Global Live directory alone suggests.

Founders of scaling brands Heads of Ecommerce International and export managers Operations and logistics leads Finance and payments leads Compliance and regulatory managers Growth and acquisition marketers

For a growing brand seeking the next step up, is Going Global Live 2026 a good fit?

If your priority right now is working out whether and how to sell outside the US, this is one of the few shows where that question is the whole point rather than a side track. Brands at the earliest stage get the most from it, because the seminar programme is pitched at people deciding rather than people already operating. Add the four co-located shows and the trip covers sourcing, packaging, retail technology and fulfilment in the same two days, which is hard to arrange any other way. If you are already trading in three European markets and want deep operational detail, a specialist conference will serve you better.

Founders of scaling brands

Owner-operators with a working US business and a half-formed plan for abroad. They come to compress months of research into two days of conversations with people who have already done it.

Heads of Ecommerce

The people who will own the European numbers. Channel mix, marketplace choice and localisation sit with them, and the seminar programme is built for exactly that brief.

Operations and logistics leads

Cross-border logistics has its own strand, and the co-located Retail Supply Chain & Logistics Expo sits a short walk away. Useful for anyone costing a first European warehouse.

Compliance and regulatory managers

Legal compliance is in the main programme rather than tucked into a corner. For a US brand, the UK and EU product rules are usually the least understood part of the plan.

Programme

What's on at Going Global Live 2026

The organiser projects more than 50 seminars across the two days, running over market entry and trade, cross-border logistics and compliance, global customer acquisition, and cultural intelligence. Session titles below are expected, built from those confirmed themes rather than lifted from a published running order.

01 Market entry and trade expertise

The spine of the show. Which market to pick, what a realistic launch timeline looks like, and how to structure a business so the second and third markets are easier than the first. For a US brand, the UK is usually where this conversation starts.

Choosing a first international market and defending the choice
Building a market entry plan that survives contact with reality
Trade support, funding and what help is actually available

02 Cross-border logistics and compliance

Where most first launches come unstuck. Stock placement, customs clearance, product rules and packaging registration all have to line up before a single order ships. The Brexit split between UK and EU requirements gets particular attention here.

Getting stock into Europe without repeating the clearance every order
UK and EU product compliance: two regimes, two sets of paperwork
VAT registration, packaging rules and the order to do them in

03 Global customer acquisition

Keynotes drawn from Microsoft, Meta and TikTok anchor this strand, alongside HSBC and Wise on the money side. The reader question underneath it: does the acquisition playbook that works in the US transfer, and what does it cost to find out?

Paid acquisition in European markets and where costs differ from the US
Social and creator-led selling across borders
Getting paid: cross-border payments, currency and pricing

04 Cultural intelligence and localisation

A named theme at this show, and a genuinely underrated one. Product pages, sizing conventions, delivery promises and customer service expectations all shift market by market, and European shoppers notice quickly when a brand has translated rather than localised.

Localisation beyond translation: what European shoppers expect
Reading a market before you commit budget to it
Customer service and returns expectations across European markets

Live Intelligence

What's being said about Going Global Live 2026

These are the themes we expect to define the two days at ExCeL based on the gathered record as at September 2026, and this block will be updated with actual coverage as the event approaches.

Five shows, one venue, the same two days

EVENTS INTELLIGENCE · SEP 2026

White & Private Label Expo London, Retail Supply Chain & Logistics Expo, Smart Retail Tech Expo and E-commerce Packaging & Labelling Expo all run at ExCeL on 11 and 12 November, next to Going Global Live and The Great British Business Show. For a US brand costing a transatlantic trip, that turns one flight into coverage of sourcing, packaging, fulfilment, retail technology and market entry. Plan the two days as a route between halls rather than a single agenda.

A whole show organised around entering new markets, which is rarer than it sounds

EVENTS INTELLIGENCE · SEP 2026

Most ecommerce events treat international expansion as one track among a dozen. Here it is the organising principle for the whole floor. That focus is the reason this is the closest audience match on the autumn calendar for a brand weighing a first move abroad.

The keynote list leans platform and payments

GOING GLOBAL LIVE PROGRAMME · 2026

Speakers are drawn from Microsoft, Meta, TikTok, HSBC and Wise. Read that as two halves of the same question: how you reach a European customer, and how the money moves once you have. Both halves get underestimated by US brands who assume the domestic stack simply travels.

Legal compliance sits in the main programme, not in the aisles

GOING GLOBAL LIVE PROGRAMME · 2026

Cross-border legal compliance is a named theme alongside logistics and acquisition. That placement matters for a US audience, because product rules and tax registration are the parts that quietly set a launch date. Going in with a written list of your own compliance unknowns turns a general seminar into a useful one.

The bigger picture

London is the easy door into Europe, and the one most brands stop at

A US brand lands in the UK because the language is shared, Amazon UK is already familiar and the rules are written down in English. That logic is sound, and the UK really is the usual first step. The trouble starts when a brand assumes the work it did for Britain carries it into Germany or the Netherlands, because since Brexit it carries almost none of it. Two days at ExCeL are a good way to see the whole shape of the problem at once, particularly with four adjacent shows covering the physical side of it, and what you take home is a list of decisions whose order decides how long your launch takes.

The UK sits outside the EU customs union and VAT (value-added tax) system. UK registration, customs and product compliance are a separate setup from the EU, so plan two market entries rather than one.
VAT registration follows your stock. Hold goods in a country and you register there, whatever your sales volume. Netherlands registration is comparatively fast, which is part of why so many brands land there first.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) makes you financially responsible for the packaging you put on each market, country by country. Germany and France each want their own registration, and going without risks marketplace suspension.
Customs rules on low-value goods entering the EU are tightening, which raises the landed cost of shipping direct from a US warehouse. Bulk stock inside Europe clears once instead of parcel by parcel.

Expandly sequences that list as one route rather than four separate projects, through the Global Expansion Pathway (GEP™), covering registrations, compliance, stock and channel launch. 2,000+ brands sell across borders on the platform.

One trip, five shows

Going Global Live, The Great British Business Show and four co-located ExCeL shows all run on 11 and 12 November. Sourcing, packaging, supply chain and retail technology in one building.

5 Shows at ExCeL on the same two days

Britain is not Europe, legally speaking

Selling in the UK does not cover you for Germany or the Netherlands. Customs, VAT and product compliance are separate regimes, and each needs its own registrations and its own plan.

2 Separate UK and EU setups

One route, properly sequenced

The Global Expansion Pathway (GEP™) puts VAT registration, product compliance, packaging registration and fulfilment from our Netherlands warehouse on a single plan, in the order they need doing.

GEP™ Global Expansion Pathway

Good to Know

Questions about Going Global Live 2026

What else is on at ExCeL on 11 and 12 November 2026?

Four other shows run at ExCeL on exactly the same two days: White & Private Label Expo London, Retail Supply Chain & Logistics Expo, Smart Retail Tech Expo, and E-commerce Packaging & Labelling Expo. Going Global Live also runs alongside The Great British Business Show. One trip to London covers five shows, which makes the flight much easier to justify.

How big is Going Global Live 2026, and what does it cost?

The organiser projects more than 100 exhibitors, around 5,000 visitors and more than 50 seminars across the two days. Those are projections rather than confirmed attendance figures. Ticket pricing is not published on the event site as at September 2026.

Who speaks at Going Global Live 2026?

The keynote line-up is drawn from Microsoft, Meta, TikTok, HSBC and Wise. The wider programme covers cross-border logistics and legal compliance, cultural intelligence, global customer acquisition, trade expertise and market entry.

Is the UK a good first market for US brands entering Europe?

The UK is the usual first market for US brands: shared language, a mature ecommerce infrastructure, Amazon UK as an established marketplace, and rules that are detailed but well documented. Since Brexit it is a separate customs and VAT (value-added tax) regime from the EU, so treat UK and EU entry as two distinct setups.

Does selling in the UK cover me for the EU too?

Yes and no. Since Brexit the UK sits outside the EU customs union and VAT (value-added tax) system, so UK registration, customs, and product compliance are separate from the EU. Selling in Britain does not cover you for Germany or the Netherlands, and vice versa. Plan them as two distinct market entries.

Why are US brands expanding into Europe now?

The main reasons are rising US advertising and acquisition costs, marketplace and tariff volatility, and the risk of depending on a single channel or market. Europe offers large, less-saturated markets as a growth and diversification play. The brands that succeed treat it as a structured operation, not a listings exercise.

Make Your Move

One flight to London, five shows and a plan for Europe

If a first international market is on your roadmap, 11 and 12 November at ExCeL is an efficient use of two days. The main programme answers the strategy question, and the four co-located shows cover the physical side of getting product onto a European shelf.

Ahead of the trip we can map your catalogue against the UK and EU requirements, so you arrive knowing which registrations you need and roughly how long each takes. That turns a broad seminar into a specific one. Come back with what you heard and we will read it against what we are seeing across the brands we move into Europe, and work out what the next ninety days should look like.