Should a Spanish business aim at the Spanishmarket?

Sounds like a bit of an Irishquestion but from the point of view of expat businesses in Spain it is a very pertinent one. Sayyou are British and decide to set up a business in Spain; however well you think you knowSpain, the language, culture and commercial environment, you are sure to be morecomfortable dealing with British and other "Northern European" customers. On the other handmaybe you have a product or service that is new to Spain or at least your part of it, or perhapsyou have spotted an area that is very badly served, overpriced and uncompetitive for Spaniardsand foreigners alike. In this case you'd be a fool to pass up the largest part of the marketwouldn't you? So the short answer to the question is probably "depends on your business - if itlooks like there is a good opportunity to market to the locals as well as your compatriots thengo for it". But I would just like to point out three pitfalls from my own experience:

Beware of the "impressing the natives" trap

There remains a tendency among foreigners in Spain to view the country as slightly backwardand behind the times when it comes to new technology, products and ways of doing things. Youmay think the absence of something that has already taken off in the UK means introducing itin Spain will guarantee success. You may be right but bear in mind that we live in a globalvillage and if something works in one country it tends to spread to others quite quickly. Soperhaps your revolutionary product or service is in Spain already but you just haven't seen itperhaps because it is distributed in a different way. Or worse it has been tried in Spain alreadybut failed for some cultural or legal reason you haven't fathomed.Case Study: I spoke to a client recently who was convinced that he was going to make a killingsetting up a type of consumer website that is very profitable in other countries (I can't be toospecific). He was convinced that he could introduce it to Spain and make a killing. I asked if