How to Open Up Your Business to New Countries

If you’re looking to take your business to the next level, then you may be considering opening up sales to different territories and selling goods overseas. While this can be a good way of increasing profits, it’s important to do your research first, so here are some things you need to consider before you start shipping overseas.

Check shipping costs and reliability

Before you ship overseas, you need to know how much it’s going to cost you, as well as how reliable the postage services are in that area. If it’s going to be ridiculously expensive, or local post is poor and often loses items, then you may want to consider whether it’s worth the hassle. Visit the Thailand Post website and click on ‘calculate fee’ to see how much typical shipping will be for your items. In general, the cost is passed on to the customer, but if shipping costs are very high, they may be put off using your service.

 

Target your marketing

Different countries have different cultures, which means your current marketing strategy may not be appropriate when you aim to sell overseas. It’s worth looking at tailoring your marketing strategy, both online and offline, to suit the new market that you’re aiming to enter. If possible, use local agencies; for example, if you’re looking to gain more customers in the UK, you may want to work with Click Intelligence who are based there.

 

Check your current system supports international shipping

When people checkout on your site, is there an option to add an international address? If you’re using a major platform to sell your products, then it’s usually just a case of changing your settings. However, if you’ve had an e-commerce checkout designed just for your website, then you may need to consult with your IT provider to get changes made.

 

Check tax and export regulations

In order to export goods from Thailand, you have to follow local regulations and check the tax status of the goods you’re sending. It’s worth working with export experts who can help you with the complex legal and tax regulations. You should also ensure the country receiving the goods isn’t subject to import regulations, and work out what the import tariffs will be, otherwise you may end up with a hefty find.

 

Work out whether there’s a market overseas

There’s no use spending money to set up international shipping if you don’t get many orders. Check out the competition in your destination country. Can you offer locals something that they can’t? Is there the local economy to support this expansion? You may find it easier to establish your business in emerging economies, rather than those that are already established where you’ll find lots of competition.

Opening up your business to new markets gives you a lot of growth potential. While there are shipping and taxes included in the costs, if there’s a demand for your product then you may well find it’s worth the additional work to ship to new territories.

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