Moving Into The Global Market
Are you happy with your business’ current turnover? Maybe you never thought you’d get to a position like this, or maybe you think it could be a little better? Either way, you might be ready to think about borders beyond your own, and take your creative and innovative business model and products to the global market.
The global market is out there, and you could very well grab on and take it by the horns! With the invention of modern technology, and the use of the online world, international markets are more accessible than ever, even if you only started your company a couple of weeks ago.
So, with all that in mind, might it be time for you to take the plunge and move into the global market? Could you be the next big thing on the international horizon? Who really knows – but your chances of success could be improved tenfold if you remember the points below as you go on your journey.Â
Determine Your Target Market
Your move into the global market needs to be done in stages, and that means one country or region at a time. You need to target one market at a time, and do so with a lot of research behind you to back you up. Most of all, you need to think about the product you’re planning to open up to an international market, and ensure it has relevance to any (if not all) peoples and cultures in other countries.
Think about your own culture, and how it approaches a product like yours – will people in a foreign country do the same? Probably not, so you need to think about their daily habits and routines, and how they differ, and how you can change to fit these. This could take a lot of time and effort, which is why it’s best to target one market at a time, rather than get too excited and try to move down multiple avenues. You are a small business, after all!
Make it Easy to Take International Payments
One of the main things you’ll need to do when moving into the global market is ensure you can take international payments. After all, the more countries you plan to reach out to, the more currencies your business is going to be exposed to, and it can be hard to convert these currencies into your own and still get the same amount of cash you were expecting. Plus, you’ll often have a lot of fees to contend with!
If you can bypass this hiccup before you’ve even reached out to an international audience, you’ll be able to streamline the process entirely. Often enough, if you’re getting smaller payments (a.k.a., anything under a grand) from a customer, it’s much better to use an online service, rather than a bank, as it’s a lot cheaper to filter the money through. Most of all, in order to contend with all of these worries, ensure you’re pricing your products at a rate that accounts for both fee percentages, tax, and the actual value of the item you’re selling.
Take a Period to Get Settled
And finally, make sure you take some time to get settled into your new market, and set attainable goals for this period, to ensure you’re tracking your success in a foreign market properly. You want to feel safe and comfortable in this new country, in order to keep sales up, and properly put the effort in to serve the consumers over there.
So, take at least 6 months to get acclimatised, and ensure you’re feeling like you’re doing your best whilst overseas. If you’re not living over there, or you’re not planning to, it might be best to book yourself a place to stay within your new market, to ensure you’re getting acquainted with the people and practices. You’re going to need to get up close and personal with them at some point, so why not include a trip like this as part of your market research? It’s one of the more fun sides of business anyway!
Moving into the global market might seem like a massive and unreachable move, but it’s something your business could be doing within the year. If you spend the time collecting resources, and doing your market research, you could very well set your sights on expansion within the next 6 months. After all, the more time you spend in preparation, the further your efforts will go.Â
This is a contributed post