If you dream of seeing your small business operating abroad, how do you go about making it a reality? It takes a little research and planning, but if you do it right, your business could reach new heights.
The practicalities of whether or not your business could operate internationally firstly depend on what kind of business you run. If you operate a service-based business that operates remotely and digitally, you have far less to think about. In this scenario, your focus will be on aspects such as how taxes and banking regulations work between different countries, and if you can feasibly deliver your services while based in a different country.
If your business has physical products, your concern will be more focused on how you will actually deliver and distribute your products, and if there are any safety regulations or alternative standards your products need to meet in different parts of the world. First and foremost, you’ll be looking into things such as postage, pallet shipping and international regulatory standards.
If you’re serious about getting your physical products out there in different countries, here’s a breakdown of what you need to consider.
Is There A Market?
This first step is not one to brush over. Before you invest time, effort and money trying to sell your products abroad, you need to have a good idea about whether or not people will actually want to buy them. Start with some of your own basic market research, finding out about your competitors in different countries, and whether any similar items are readily available. Depending on your findings from this initial research, you may then decide to go on to work with a market research company to properly assess whether there is space in the market for your product. Yes, you will spend money on this, but it is far cheaper to find out at this early stage whether your product is likely to sink or swim.
How Will You Market It?
If you’re sure there is a market for your product abroad, the next thing to decide on is how you will market it. Every business owner knows that having a great product alone isn’t enough to sell it. You may have a go-to set of marketing tactics you usually use in your home country, but these may not be relevant in the country you want to sell in. It’s important to get some local expertise when making a marketing plan for your products abroad. Local marketing agencies or consultants will have information and statistics about the best marketing tactics and the most popular social media channels. The key is to make your marketing bespoke to your target country or countries.
Mail Direct Or Distribution?
The logistical side of how you will physically get your products from your home country to your destination country is a key consideration. If you’re thinking of mailing your products directly each time an order comes in, look into postage rates and delivery times between the two countries. Get accurate estimates with actual weights and packaging measurements of your items. If your items are particularly heavy or bulky, the postage costs will be higher than you might have imagined. Think about whether your customers would be willing to pay these postage costs, or if you are willing to absorb the costs yourself. Before going with a particular mailing company, look at some reviews to see how good their service is.
The alternative option to mailing your products directly is to work with an in-country distributor in your country or countries of choice. In this scenario, you would look into crating companies to send your products in bulk to your distributor. The way you work with a distributor can vary. They can simply process orders and fulfil them for you. Or they can work on placing your product in suitable outlets, such as physical shops and online stores. Each type of agreement incurs a cost, of course, which is usually a percentage of each sale. This can be an effective way of working in other countries when you are less able to be hands-on.
Measuring Success
If you manage to fulfil your business goal of selling your products internationally, you will need to have a method of measuring your success. It can take some time to get established with your new processes, so give yourself a target date of when you would like to start making profits. When looking at this, weigh up all the time and effort you put into selling your products abroad, and think about how much profit is enough to make it worth it. If you are working with some third parties, such as marketing agencies and distribution centers, have an agreement with them about how they will report to you. It can be harder to keep a handle on this when you are working at a distance, so be upfront about your expectations before you start working together.