International Marketing ROI: Lessons from Next

Next just gave the most useful kind of marketing update: not “we’re investing more in brand,” but what happened when they spent more, and what they expect to spend next.

Over the 2025 festive period, Next says a 60% rise in “profitable marketing expenditure” helped drive a 38.3% increase in international online sales. Then the interesting twist: despite that growth, the business is preparing to reduce international marketing spend in 2026 (their outlook shifts to a much smaller increase, around 25%).

For a UK solopreneur, that’s the whole story in miniature. Marketing isn’t a virtue. It’s an investment. You spend when returns clear your bar, and you pull back when marginal returns start thinning out. If you’re trying to grow beyond the UK—whether you sell digital services, physical products, or bookings—this is a smart moment (January 2026) to set up your “international marketing ROI” approach for the year ahead.

What Next’s numbers really say about international marketing ROI

Answer first: Next’s results show that international growth often comes from measured spend increases tied to profitability, not from “being everywhere.”

Next credits marketing with helping international online sales rise 38.3% over the festive period, supported by a 60% increase in profitable international marketing spend. They’ve previously framed their approach around a hurdle rate—i.e., spend rises only if the returns stay high—and reported a goal of generating at least £1.50 incremental profit for every £1 spent on marketing.

That last detail is the mindset shift most small businesses need. Too many one-person businesses budget like this:

• “I’ll spend £300/month on ads because that feels reasonable.”
• “I’ll do a few boosted posts around Christmas.”
• “I tried Google Ads once; it didn’t work.”

A better way is closer to Next’s framing:

• Set a minimum acceptable return (a hurdle rate)
• Increase spend only on what clears it
• Treat marketing as a portfolio (some channels are stable, some are experimental)

If a retailer as established as Next is still treating growth as something to be earned through measurement, a solopreneur definitely should.

Why “profitable marketing” is the only label that matters

“Profitable marketing” isn’t a channel. It’s a filter.

For solopreneurs, I’ve found it helps to define profitable marketing in plain English:

Profitable marketing is spend you can trace to incremental gross profit within an agreed time window.

That “time window” matters. If you sell high-ticket services, your window might be 60–120 days. If you sell e-commerce gifts, it might be 7–30 days. The point is you pick it before you scale spend.

The myth: “International marketing is only for big brands”

Answer first: Small businesses can market internationally effectively because digital targeting, marketplaces, and remote delivery reduce the cost of reaching buyers abroad.

Most companies get this wrong. They think “international marketing” means opening offices, translating everything, and burning budget on awareness.

For a UK solopreneur, international expansion can start with one of these low-friction plays:

• A service business: targeting English-speaking markets (Ireland, Netherlands, Nordics, Germany’s international teams) where buyers already hire UK specialists.
• A product business: using cross-border shipping plus clear delivery/returns policies.
• A digital product: selling globally with pricing in GBP but payment methods that work internationally.
• A local business: attracting visitors to the UK (tourism, destination services, experiences) through international search and social.

The practical question isn’t “Can I go global?” It’s “Which 1–2 international segments will pay back fastest?”

Start with demand signals, not assumptions

Before you spend, look for demand you already have:

• Website traffic by country (GA4)
• Enquiry emails mentioning time zones, international numbers, or overseas delivery
• Search Console queries showing overseas intent
• Instagram/TikTok audience locations
• Marketplace analytics (Etsy, Amazon, Not On The High Street-style data if applicable)

If you’re already getting 5–15% of visits from outside the UK, that’s often enough to justify a small, disciplined test.

Budget reallocation: what “spend less next year” teaches you

Answer first: Scaling isn’t linear—after a strong period, the next best move can be reallocating budget to the highest-return campaigns instead of blindly increasing spend.

Next is readying to pull back on international marketing growth in 2026 even after a standout festive performance. That’s not a contradiction; it’s what responsible optimisation looks like.

Here’s why businesses reduce or slow spend after strong results:

1. Diminishing returns: the first £1,000 finds the easiest wins; the next £1,000 is harder.
2. Rising auction costs: Q4 often inflates CPCs/CPMs; January can reset pricing.
3. Operational constraints: if shipping, capacity, or fulfilment strains, marketing becomes the problem.
4. Better opportunities elsewhere: you move budget to retention, CRO, or brand assets.

Solopreneurs feel this even more sharply because time is the limiting factor. If you’re fully booked, more leads aren’t always “growth”—they’re noise.

A simple “hurdle rate” model for solopreneurs

You don’t need complex incrementality studies to be more rigorous than most competitors. Use this:

1. Work out contribution margin per sale (price minus direct costs).
2. Decide your target marketing efficiency:
   • If you want £2 back for every £1, your marketing cost must be ≤ 50% of contribution margin.
3. Convert that into a maximum CPA (cost per acquisition).

Example (service business):

• Project fee: £1,200
• Direct costs (tools, subcontractor, travel): £200
• Contribution margin: £1,000
• You want marketing to be no more than 25% of contribution margin
• Max CPA = £250

Now you can test international campaigns without guessing.

A practical international marketing plan for 2026 (built for one-person businesses)

Answer first: Pick one market, one offer, and one primary channel, then scale only after you can prove paid or organic ROI.

This is where the “UK Solopreneur Business Growth” approach matters: simple systems beat complicated strategies. Your job isn’t to copy a retailer’s budget. It’s to copy their discipline.

Step 1: Choose a single international “entry offer”

Don’t start with your entire catalogue.

Pick one offer that sells well already and translates cleanly:

• A fixed-scope package (audit, starter bundle, mini-session)
• A hero product that’s giftable and easy to ship
• A flagship digital product with strong testimonials

Write a landing page variation that makes international purchase frictionless:

• Delivery times and costs (if physical)
• Time zone expectations (if services)
• Returns/refunds policy
• Currency handling and payment options

Step 2: Pick the channel that matches intent

If you need demand that’s already there, start with high-intent channels:

• Google Search ads for international buyers actively looking
• SEO for international search intent (country modifiers, “UK-based” trust signals)
• Marketplace ads if you sell products

Use social ads (Meta/TikTok) once you’ve got a clear converting offer and creative that already works domestically.

Step 3: Run a 14-day “proof of return” test

You’re not trying to conquer the world in two weeks. You’re trying to answer one question: Does this market convert at a CPA we can afford?

A clean test looks like this:

• One country (or language cluster)
• One offer
• One campaign objective (leads or purchases)
• One measurement plan (what counts as success)

Track:

• Cost per lead / cost per purchase
• Landing page conversion rate
• Lead-to-sale rate (for services)
• Refund/return rate (for products)

Then make a binary decision:

• Scale (increase budget 20–30% weekly)
• Fix (improve landing page, offer, or follow-up)
• Stop (don’t keep paying tuition fees forever)

Step 4: Build the follow-up system (this is where ROI compounds)

Most solopreneurs obsess over ads and ignore follow-up. That’s backwards.

Set up:

• A fast reply sequence (email + calendar link + FAQs)
• Abandoned checkout emails (if e-commerce)
• Retargeting ads for visitors (small budget, high efficiency)
• A simple nurture sequence with 3–5 emails

Even a modest improvement in follow-up can beat a major increase in ad spend.

“People also ask” (the quick answers readers want)

Is international marketing worth it for small businesses?

Yes, when you can identify a reachable segment and measure CPA against contribution margin. If you can’t measure either, it’s gambling.

Should I increase my marketing budget after a good season?

Only if the marginal returns stay above your hurdle rate. A great Q4 doesn’t guarantee a great Q1.

What’s the best channel for international growth?

Start with the channel closest to purchase intent (search, marketplaces, referral partners). Social can work, but it often needs more testing to reach profitability.

How do I know if my international marketing is “profitable”?

Use a defined time window and track incremental gross profit, not just revenue. Revenue hides weak margins.

What to do next (so your budget works harder this year)

Next’s story isn’t “spend 60% more.” It’s “spend more where returns are provably profitable, then be willing to slow down when they aren’t.” That’s a grown-up approach to international marketing ROI—and it’s absolutely accessible to a one-person business.

If you want 2026 to be the year you grow beyond the UK, start smaller than you think, measure harder than you think, and scale only what earns it. That’s how you avoid the common trap of “being global” while staying broke.

Where could your marketing budget work harder: one new country, one stronger offer, or one better follow-up system?