The beauty of the ecommerce industry is that you could, theoretically and practically, sell your products and services to anyone in the world. As soon as you launch your website, you have the capability to attract customers from anywhere, expand your horizons on a worldwide scale, and make serious inroads into accessing foreign markets.
However, if you want your e-commerce to thrive in international markets, there are a few things you will need to do first. In this guide, we’re going to take you through some of the most important factors you will need to consider if you want to start improving sales and boosting your conversions abroad. Let’s take a closer look.
Is it worth it?
First and foremost, you will need to establish whether or not it’s worth targeting a particular country or location in foreign climes. Your analytics should give you plenty of clues, and if you are receiving plenty of orders from a particular region of the world, it might be wise to invest some time and money on making your products and services more appealing. You will need to do a healthy amount of market research before taking the plunge, too, and ensure that there is a viable market that is worth your investment.
Domain names
One of the best things you can do to become more appealing to a foreign audience is to use the relevant country suffix in your web address. If you can find an exact match for your company name and usual web address, great. But don’t panic if you can’t and there is a company using your name – you can always think of a similar alternative to avoid treading on their toes or even offer to buy the domain from them.
Translate your content
Google’s translation service is handy when you are browsing a foreign website, but your offer will be far more compelling if you translate your site correctly. As pointed out by The Translation People, there are an enormous number of things you might need help with, from voiceovers for your ads and promo videos to your website SEO. You should, therefore, think about hiring someone fluent in the language of your target market, or instead look for a reputable translation service who can help you out.
Change your payment options
You should also investigate the possibility of changing your payment options to local currencies. You will need to consider exchange rates and local pricing structures, of course, but ecommerce businesses that offer local currency payments will often outperform those that don’t.
Set up local distribution
A big part of the problem of selling abroad is that your customers have to pay massive amounts for delivery of the products they buy. You can get around this by setting up a distribution center in the relevant country, delivering in bulk to reduce the costs, and, therefore, making your offer a lot more compelling for your customers. Don’t forget, if you are finding success in another country, there is every chance a local competitor will challenge you for market share. And if they offer similar products and services without the huge costs of delivery, they will eat into your profits pretty quickly.
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