Global e-commerce is the buying and selling of goods worldwide, between different countries. Online shopping from people who come from various parts of the world has become more common. Businesses already realize the importance of global expansion. In the upcoming years, e-commerce business sales are expected to rise up to 250 percent and reach the $4.5 trillion mark.
Going global with your business is a huge risk, and one needs to have conducted enough research, planning and preparation. Before going international with your business, you need to understand some of the differences between national and global scales of e-commerce businesses for you to determine the one that best suits your business.
National Vs. Global Scale E-Commerce
A national scale business is a business that operates its transactions within the limits of its geographical region. A global e-commerce business is one that doesn’t have the restriction of operating in one country. That is a business that carries out transactions with multiple companies from different countries.
The quality of services and products that are offered by a national scale business is low. While the quality of the services and products provided by the global business is high because they are made and set according to international standards.
A national scale business uses the currency of the country that it operates in while a global scale e-commerce business deals in numerous currencies.
Business research can be conducted with ease when it comes to national scale business,whereas conducting research to a global scale e-commerce can be costly, and the reliability of the research differs from country to country.
Assessing Opportunity
The first strategy in determining whether to shift your company from national to global is finding out whether the people of that country will buy your product. You can try accessing the market relevance with the SEO and using keywords to research and then considering the amount of completion in the said countries. Another thing you should research is the demand for the product you want to sell in different countries. You can use Google trends to get a glimpse of how your products and services could compare in different countries.
Entering New Markets
Once you have fully decided you want to enter other markets in different countries, there are three major factors that you should keep in mind: taxation, shipping and marketing. These factors will differ depending on the country you are targeting. For you to carry out your global business without a lot of complications, you will have to partner with other third-party companies since some of the laws of the international countries can get complicated.
Pros of Global Scale E-Commerce Business
• The business can transact and operate using different currencies
• The business is not limited to run in one country, and it can transact and operate in multiple states
Cons of Global Scale E-Commerce Business
• Carrying out business research is quite expensive
• The reliability of the study conducted will vary from one country to the next
How Marketing Is Important to Your Business
Marketing your business and finding the right market is very important in taking your business to the next step, i.e.,becoming successful in the global market. You can start by evaluating and selecting the methods that you will use to distribute your products abroad. Additionally, you can opt to find a foreign distributor who will be selling the products for you.
Example: How can a camping business benefit from a marketing
Nowadays, with the acceleration of globalization, marketing has become imperative and very useful for many businesses in order for them to continue functioning. One such case is with camping industries. Marketing the next camp event, is fundamental in maintaining and increasing the camping attendance. Regardless of the type of your camp event, having a marketing plan in place and finding new ways on how to increase the number of attendees, is crucial for generating profits and staying in business. Conversely, you can have the best camp possible, but if no one knows about it, then all the efforts were for nothing. Moreover, due to the increasing competition in the industry, campsites have started using the best camping gear in the market in order to lure more clients each year. That is why, with marketing strategies and advanced camping gear, many campsites have remained highly attractive and have been able to entice new campers each year.
Another way which can help you in elevating your global business is through the mobile market and apps. Technology is used to penetrate the market in all parts of the world, with the use of gadgets such as smartphones. Creating your website in a mobile friendly way is a sure way of winning customers globally. Making a mobile app will also help customers with shopping. Furthermore, you can build language apps that will help people from different countries access the market with ease.
Shifting from a national scale business to a global scale e-commerce business is a great way for expanding your horizon and penetrating into different markets. But before making this decision ensure that you conduct a lot of research to find out which is the best market for your products and services.
Rilind Elezaj is an experienced digital marketing specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the marketing and advertising industry. In his methodological approach, Rilind integrates web development and other digital marketing solutions to create hybrid strategies that bring the best results.
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