If your e-commerce sales within the US have generated substantial profits for several consecutive quarters, it is definitely time to consider plans for international expansion. Here are a few of the preliminary logistical steps and sales strategies that should figure into your preparations.
Expand Outreach and Engagement With International Communication Tools
If your digital marketing activities concentrate primarily on third-party websites or social media platforms whose popularity is predominantly limited to US consumers, you are going to need to extend outreach in order to connect you with people all over the globe. Popular communication programs such as WhatsApp could be an excellent way to establish contact with international consumers on their preferred medium and achieve global growth. For many individuals in both the US and foreign countries, this messaging tool is highly preferable to SMS communications. Sending videos without data loss, building group chats with ease, and avoiding exorbitant charges to communicate with social and professional networks are all big draws.
Utilizing Whatsapp business API tools that can put you in direct contact with current and prospective customers in over 180 countries. You can use this messaging service to relay content about your products with more depth and visual appeal than you could via SMS. Using traditional text messaging format typically entails prompting people to follow a link to a website. On WhatsApp, you can convey detailed imagery and video cost-efficiently. You can use this tool to generate leads and initiate dialogs with multiple individuals simultaneously.
Incorporating the WhatsApp Business platform into your digital marketing strategy can provide an additional avenue for customer engagement and referral generation. You could use it to send order updates, for example. In addition, you may use it to spread the word about compelling promotional offers. It is a particularly great resource for garnering referrals because you can send people readily sharable codes, links, or phone numbers. People who may be reticent to send referral promotion information via email may find the notion far less off-putting when they can do so via a popular, informal messaging app.
Optimize Your Website for Global Use
To reach customers in the world’s largest e-commerce markets, you need to implement some modifications that will make it accessible globally. Of course, you probably already have a sense of some of the fundamentals such as giving shoppers the option to choose their country and displaying multiple currencies. It may also be necessary to rework speed and functionality issues that involve add-ons or web hosting features that are simply not going to be compatible with international shoppers. In essence, every customer around the globe should be able to enjoy the same caliber of online shopping experience.
It is advisable to partner with a website design service and hosting provider that has experience transforming sites for international expansion. A professional design team is likely to have already meticulously crafted and tested the features that you want for your site.
Choose a Winning Platform for International E-Commerce
Giving your store visibility beyond your proprietary website could help you get on thousands of more global shoppers’ radars. Major e-commerce sites that have been working to draw in more international sellers and buyers have seen their efforts pay off. Even fairly new enterprises that many people have not heard much about are making waves, and allocating a significant amount of resources to outreach campaigns. They are steering substantial growth through ad services, and even fairly new enterprises have seen it fit to spring for costly advertising during major events such as February’s big game.
To choose the best sites for international e-commerce sales that you should feature your store on, look at how well each site is performing. This should include an analysis of their web traffic patterns as well as their sales revenue.
You will also need to carefully evaluate the price of doing business on these types of sites. Whether you are going to have to pay for individual listings, percentages of sales, or both could make a significant impact on the total volume of net profits that you are able to generate using them.
Lastly, it is important to plan expansion directives judiciously. Exercise thorough due diligence to identify the best available resources for your objectives, and be conscientious about financial risk management in advance of any major expenditures geared towards international growth.
