Businesses will focus on customer and client experience and see new markets as an opportunity to recover in 2026, according to Chambers Wales South East, South West and Mid’s Quarterly Economic Survey for Q4 2025.
In the final quarter of last year, businesses in Wales reported significant shifts in trade in both domestic and overseas markets. Half of respondents (50%) stated that UK sales had decreased in the past three months, while orders and advance bookings had also fallen. Likewise in overseas markets, 48% shared that export sales had decreased, with orders and advance bookings also decreasing.
The trade landscape led to an increase in businesses in Wales citing new markets and new international markets as opportunities to help their business recover compared to the previous quarter. 55% saw new markets as an opportunity for recovery and growth in Q4 2025 compared to 51% in Q3, while 39% selected new international markets in Q4 compared to 32% in Q3.
Likewise, trade and new markets featured in the answers to additional questions specifically looking ahead to 2026. When asked what they see as the biggest opportunity in the new year, businesses’ responses included ‘exporting’, ‘new markets within the UK’, and ‘overseas markets and consolidation in existing markets’.
Almost a third of businesses in Wales (32%) stated that exporting and importing would be the area that they would focus on most in 2026, while over half (59%) selected customer and client experience as their main focus for the year ahead.
Gus Williams, CEO of Chambers Wales South East, South West and Mid, said: “Our Q4 survey shows just how challenging the trading environment was for Welsh businesses as 2025 came to a close, with falling orders, weaker sales and continued pressure from costs, taxation and inflation. Confidence remains fragile, particularly for SMEs.
“One bright spot is that firms are actively looking outward, identifying new markets both within the UK and internationally, and placing a renewed focus on customer and client experience as potential drivers of growth in 2026.
“With nearly seven in ten businesses lacking confidence in the Welsh Government’s ability to support growth, it is vital that policymakers listen to the lived experience of SMEs and respond to the issues with actions. The private sector wants to collaborate with government but trust needs to be reestablished.”
