Grow your e-commerce business internationally
In 2017 alone, China was responsible for 67.1% of all e-commerce sales worldwide.
If you've saturated your local market, it's time to think about expanding into international markets. There are more than 8 billion people in the world, 350 million of whom are in the United States alone.
International consumer markets are growing at a really fast pace. However, it seems that US companies are not expanding at the same rate as other developed countries.
Only 3% of the 30 million companies in the United States sell internationally.
If you're among the 95% who haven't expanded overseas, you probably don't know how to get started. Or even if you have an idea of how to do it, you may not know how to do it efficiently and successfully.
Well, lucky you are with us, in this humble site, we will provide you with your comprehensive guide to go global with your e-commerce store.
Without much introduction and useless talk, here are 10 steps to success in international e-commerce:
- Search international markets with these free tools
- Collaborate with a local influencer
- Get government support
- Use International Markets (to start with)
- Set up your own international shipping options
- Translate everything in your company
- Set up their preferred payment options
- Giving priority to mobile commerce
- Expand on social media
- Collaborate with your existing distributors.
What is international e-commerce and how important is it to your business?
International e-commerce is the business of selling a product over the Internet to customers who live in a foreign country, whether far or near. There are practically no limits to where your company's business can expand, but only if there is a market that accommodates your company's merchandise. So you have to know that any expansion into a new market requires a lot of time, effort, and resources.
Online shops and convenience stores alike can explore new audiences with the rise of international e-commerce. After having completed e-commerce marketing, there are many benefits that you can take advantage of, for example increasing brand visibility and expanding your potential customer base.
Global E-Commerce Statistics
According to eMarketer estimates, electronic retail sales grew to reach $2.304 trillion in 2017. This is a 24.8% increase over 2016. Mobile commerce played an important role, accounting for 58.9% of digital sales.
eMarketer estimates also found that e-commerce accounted for 10.2% of all retail sales worldwide in the same year, up 8.6% from 2016. The Asia Pacific region played a major role in the growth with 14.6% of the region's retail spending carried out online...
According to a study by Inviqa, 59% of millennials use Amazon first when shopping online. Millennials are also turning to the e-commerce business for price comparisons, with 41% of them always using multiple websites when buying an item. Finally, 93% of millennials tend to read product reviews before buying.
According to a 2017 statistic from Nasdaq, it is expected that 95% of purchases will be made online by 2040.
According to research from Kinsta, the preferred payment methods for shoppers around the world are credit cards (53% of all transactions), digital payment systems (43%), and debit cards (38%).
Benefits of international e-commerce
And like any business endeavor, e-commerce has its own challenges - finding the right market, gaining target market interest and trust, increasing sales and long-term growth all of these are challenges and we haven't mentioned many of them.
Which we will mention in a special topic on our site. It is imperative for every business to be careful both in choosing the right e-commerce platform, as well as making sure that it is the platform that unifies all data and touchpoints in order to manage the business intelligently and make more effective decisions. However, global e-commerce can provide very many benefits to companies and also to customers alike when it is combined with each other but it is done thoughtfully and strategically.
-for companies
Increased brand visibility: Creating your brand in foreign countries allows more buyers to learn about your products or services. This in turn builds trust, expands brand visibility, and ultimately increases sales.
Expand the customer base: Entering and covering more markets and increasing the visibility of your brand in these markets greatly increases the potential customer base for your business.
Testing new e-commerce markets: It is one of the most important and most prominent reasons that make an e-commerce store reach and spread to a large global audience is to use it as a platform to test the growth and interaction of this market. Opening your business to a foreign country allows you to see if certain markets will be profitable before getting a physical location there.
-for customers
More product diversity: Customers in different parts of the world benefit from global e-commerce by receiving more product diversity. Products or services may be highly desirable in countries or regions that you do not develop internally.
Increase business-to-consumer connectivity: A well-thought-out global e-commerce strategy also allows for increased business-to-consumer connectivity.