You supply a product that is in demand worldwide. You want to sell to people globally. You have an e-store, but you despite the fact that the internet is global, your product is only selling domestically. What do you need to know to change that? There are several considerations you should prepare for in order to take your e-store global. Here are some tips.
First of all, your store must be adequately prepared for the potential demands of global consumers. Obviously, people around the world use different currencies and you must be prepared to accept those with platforms that make those transactions easy and attractive. Countries have different tax laws regarding commerce and imports. These laws create challenges with pricing as well as shipping. Even though there are challenges, these challenges can be overcome with some homework and effort.
Currency
When someone from another country wants to buy your product, they will be using their domestic currency in most cases. Because of that, you must be prepared to accept those currencies or provide a workaround. Platforms like PayPal allow you to take foreign currencies as payments. These currencies are easily converted into your local or prefered currency. One drawback of using PayPal and similar financial platforms is that they take a percentage of very transaction. This builds in a slight inflation to your product.
There are some options that bypass these transaction fees, but they also have some issues which you should be aware of. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency which has virtually no fees and allows you to do transactions across international borders without friction. Problems arise from the fact that Bitcoin is essentially digital cash. That means if a transaction goes bad or if your order isn’t fulfilled, there is essentially no recourse. Some merchants also avoid cryptocurrencies because they have the potential to avoid taxation and fees. In order to keep your business on the level, all financial transactions need to have the ability to be transparent.
Language
Although English is widely accepted as the international language of business, if you target specific marketplaces, it is helpful to use the language of that market. Even if you merely create targeted webpages or create mirror sites using .de, .au, .uk.co domains matching your .com domain name. for example, your store becomes friendlier to consumers in these markets. By doing these little things, you increase your access to potential buyers. Even if buyers speak English, they prefer to read in their native tongue and are less likely to leave your site and look for an alternative in their language.
Create A shipping Strategy
Companies like Shopify are setup to support international shipping. This can be extremely valuable when it comes to fulfilling orders. You don’t want to be in your home-office with a scale, your relatives, a pile of boxes and a roll of stamps. Leave this to the companies who are established in international commerce. It can also be useful to establish an international parcel forwarding system. This can reduce the costs, especially associated with returns, of shipping between countries.
Know Tax And Duties
Many countries have VATs (value added taxes) and tariffs. Make sure you learn the essentials of these in order to get your pricing right. If you don’t take these into account, you can price yourself out of the market or end up operating at a loss. When you are in an international airport, you often see “Duty Free” stores. These are stores are allowed to sell merchandise without being subject to duty. Because of this, you can get these goods cheaper. However, in most international commerce, a duty applies and affects prices.
Use Targeted SEO To Gain Visibility
Simply operating in a foreign country doesn’t mean people in that country will find you. Use SEO techniques, and specifically targeted SEO techniques for that or those countries to get viewers to your store. This includes using keywords, translated to the local language, link building for those keywords and content that makes your e-store relevant in that market.
Much of ecommerce is discovered through search engine searches. That makes your site’s relevance within the algorithms of search engines increasingly critical. And if your site targets multiple countries and thusly languages, you must do multiple SEO campaigns to affect search in each language. By doing international SEO, each part of your e-store will benefit as well. Search engines will determine you are an authority and relevant regarding your product line. This will cross languages and raise your authority in all of them.
The internet has made international commerce an exciting possibility with limitless potential. People everywhere can see your e-store, assuming they can find it, and purchase your goods, assuming you can take their currency. This makes becoming truly global real and exciting. Ecommerce has some challenges that must be considered and accounted for, when you prepare for those challenges, there is no reason your e-store can’t go around the world.
Hi there! I’m Sethu, your go-to guy for all things tech, travel, internet, movies, and business tips. I love sharing insights and stories that make life more interesting. Let’s explore the world together, one article at a time!
