As online shopping has become a trend, foreign retails are increasing in numbers. Whatever political boundaries may separate consumers, online shopping has removed the geographical barriers for good. Ecommerce businesses are jumping on the opportunity to expand for global expansion and it is believed that the market will hit a $4.5 trillion mark!
If you go international, it means your business is undertaking immense competition and pressure to do research, plan, and prepare for the target audience. Not every e-commerce business is global, they are as tricky as they come, but if your brand is confident you can test international waters with a creative online marketing strategy to boost the growth of your business and engage more traffic for your e-commerce website too.
Focusing on some of the critical elements, there are several ways to boost your sales and growth but also be prepared to face challenges too.
The 3 W’s – How, Where, and When to Drive Your Ecommerce Site
The e-commerce market is a perfect fit for every business dealing in products and services. Demands in each market are not the same and that’s what you need to understand. To fill the gap between the demand and supply first you need to enter the new market.
Once you enter the new market you will need to hire professional Ecommerce translation services. They will help you to translate the website. Most importantly, use native keywords to reach the target audience with respect to region and language.
You need to examine your website traffic and sales too. Keep a close check and balance and see whether sales are increasing or dropping. You get this information from the key metrics and the ranking on the search engine helps you navigate the website’s visibility too.
You need to look for low barriers to entry. A British brand finds it easier to penetrate the U.S or Australian market rather than the Asian market. Localization helps in such case scenarios but even if you are promoting your business in low barrier regions you still need to localize your e-commerce site and products accordingly.
Open Eyes to the Opportunity
It’s time you figure out how and why people will be persuaded to buy your products. You need to learn about the local competitors and individual buying behavior to expand your sales. Companies try to assess the market and sometimes fail to promote their brand in foreign territory. The reason is simple, they do not localize or translate their product.
As a businessman, you need to remember your product should not be rigid. To enjoy an opportunity to penetrate a new market, make a relevant product, or modify it enough so that it can be pitched for sale.
You need to consider the demand in the market; it will require some keyword research for the country you want to sell it, after all, it’s a possibility an American product may not be popular in Russia due to a variety of reasons. You will need to find the reasons why and where the product lacked and so on.
To have a fair chance to enter the new market, Google Trends is your next best friend. Search your product with a generic name (not the brand) and you can see the results by search volume all over the world. If your e-commerce site is similar to Shopify or Magento’s format then you can study competitor’s sites to understand their practices too.
Things to Take Care In a New Market
The goal is clear: you need to promote your brand in a new market. But what will happen afterward?
There are three things you need to take care of; shipping, taxation, and marketing.
These aspects will vary with each market and target country. For instance, businesses selling on Amazon have the advantage of fulfillment by Amazon services; they have standard shipping rates to transport your goods even if your customer is across the globe. You will not be charged extra. This is an ideal proposition for an e-commerce business. When you decide how much product you want to send into the Amazon warehouses it is shipped to FBA, the product is directed towards the dropping address, and this way you can access discounted shipping for the most service.
To manage taxation and translation, you need to enquire about a third-party company for the accurate translation of product descriptions and to establish a solid network of regulations that can work on currency conversions. The fee charges depend on the level of services you will require. If you are a partner with an existing e-commerce site then you can handle the taxation for shipping and another aspect of your emergence into the market.
A small sized business can enter rather easily by using a variety of channels for shipping and taxation for free! The larger a firm is the more cost integrates and vice versa.
Marketing Your E-commerce Site
It is a lot trickier than handling taxation or shipping. As the market approach is specific for each product, it becomes difficult to collect generic information. Not every tactic is applicable to all markets.
Work online with native marketers who have a deep understanding of internal affairs. This will drastically reduce cost and you can have a chance to drive conversions. Video advertisement is a powerful tool to utilize as they are easily scaled and the use of subtitles in varying language can make the videos appealing to the foreign audience.
Introducing a beginner’s guide or review after using the product increases the sales in the market and you can also try affiliate marketing. This is effective, especially for a new target audience. Get in touch with the blogger or influencer (with the right niche) and let them share their experience about using your products. That’s how tutorials started in the first place.
Bottom Line
Running an e-commerce site can make you go nuts if it’s not properly organized or maintained. Converting your website from a single language to a multilingual format is an affirmative strategy, to begin with. To become a success in a short period, you will definitely need the help of e-commerce translation services to reach the target audience without the language barrier. This will automatically boost your sales.
To tap the untapped market is what every e-commerce business dreams about. What about you?