Once you are ready to bring your business to new heights, it is time to think beyond your country’s borders. Since the conception of the internet, online businesses have boomed. You can target any market in the world, provided you have the credentials to make them trust you. Here is where the problem lies: with so many businesses out there, how can you be different from them? What is it about you that will make the international market sit up and take notice?
You have already mastered the local market. You know its likes and dislikes. Entering a new market can be daunting. Not to mention, it is downright stressful to start reaching out to the international market.
Build Your Brand Online
By this time, you should identify your brand’s reputation in the local market. You have to take this reputation online. You need to make the international market buy into what you are selling in terms of your reputation. The best way to do that is to build your online presence, revamp your brand according to what the market wants, and start engaging them. Being online shouldn’t only make your business easy to find, but it should foster trust and loyalty.
Price Products Competitively
Price your products the way you would if you were selling them locally. The only difference should be in the processing fee and the shipping charges. Otherwise, the products’ prices shouldn’t be too different from the local price tags. You are making the products locally and employing workers from the local community. Why, then, should the products be priced differently because you are sending them outside the country? If anything, businesses with friendly prices are the ones that thrive well.
Secure Their Payments
Your customers abroad will think about how they want to transact with your e-commerce store. Offer them a multitude of options—from credit cards to money remittances. Some of them may feel more comfortable to send money abroad through remittance centers. Let them do this even if it will be a hassle for you and your team. Just make sure the customers know that it will take some time to verify the payments if they go with this scheme.
It is imperative to pay for the right services when securing financial transactions—antivirus, malware, and ransomware programs. You should also make sure all the data sent between you and the client are encrypted. The use of secure payment gateways will lessen the vulnerability that potential customers feel about your business.
Think About the Exchange Rate
Let the customers pay in their own currencies. This will make it easier for them to transact using their debit and credit cards and digital banking platforms. Sure, the exchange rate on the internet will be slightly different. You might need to impose additional charges but offer this option nonetheless. Customers who truly fell in love with your products will not have a problem paying a dollar or two more.
Have a Unique Selling Point
What makes you different from the stores they have locally? Why should they buy from you and not from companies already operating in their areas? The most popular unique selling point when businesses want to enter the international market is the cheaper price tags. When you can bring down the price tag, customers are more willing to pay for the extra shipping cost. This is as long as they will still save from the overall cost of the product and shipment.
Commit to Fast Delivery
Make sure that you will prioritize the shipment of the products of buyers abroad. Delayed gratification is one of the reasons why shoppers would still rather buy in a physical store than go online. But if you are willing to commit to the fast delivery of products, then you will have a better chance of attracting customers. How can you do this? It’s by partnering with a reputable logistics company that has the capabilities to deliver products as fast as possible. This will bring such a difference to customers who are on tenterhooks about buying online.
When marketing to the international market, the first rule is to make them trust you with their information. You are alien to them. They also do not know if they can trust you with their personal and financial information. When expanding your market internationally, the first order of business is to make sure that this new market can trust you with the most sensitive information about themselves and their financial data.
