International Ecommerce #EcomChat Key Points

June 24, 2013

dan

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The #EcomChat session on ‘International Ecommerce’ was based around 3 loose conversation starter questions:

What are the main pros & cons for ecommerce businesses when beginning selling internationally?
How should businesses change their websites to increase the likelihood of overseas orders? Or should they launch new sites?
How should website owners go about marketing themselves internationally?

Billie Graham (@brandbillie) has very kindly written up the summary of the session below:

This week we discussed the trials and tribulations of International Ecommerce. If you’re considering going Global there is plenty of food for thought here. It was quite the party with the following tweeps chipping in their words of wisdom; @GingerWarriorX, @MontseCano, @kieronhughes, @cpbishop and newbie @CarissaColes

Q1) What are the main pros & cons for ecommerce businesses when beginning selling internationally?

Pros:

@cpbishop: Every year, all the nations of the world export goods and services worth nearly $15 trillion #EcomChat #Stat
@danbarker: Pros of International Ecommerce – greater potential for sales, increased potential customer base, fewer ‘unhappy visitors’.
@rocamike: Pro: access to exploding markets.
@JamesGurd: A pro is ability to expand into new markets without need for physical store presence – test waters & build brand

Cons:

@cpbishop: Cons: Export restrictions – 1 in 10 products are restricted from leaving the United States
@gingerwarriorx: to do it properly requires unique market knowledge and so staff to provide those services.
@danbarker: A few cons: Difficulty managing actual shipping & (even harder) returns, difficulty managing the ecommerce platform itself.
@jamesgurd: Hey Dan re ecommerce platform which bits specifically? Handling multi-currency/language or back-end stuff, or all!?
@danbarker: @JamesGurd all of those, plus SEO implications, URLs for social media, potential for people to buy from ‘wrong’ country, and more.
@jamesgurd: Ah yes buying from wrong country can be really complex for tax rules around shipping – any tips?
@geake: get the tax right and take advantage of raising net prices.
@gingerwarriorx: bit of preparing and research, also use your IT team / supplier properly to configure
@danbarker: And a few more cons: harder to ensure legal compliance, harder to avoid fraud.
@panda_doodle: not to mention keeping onto of finical impact i.e currency fluctuations which seem to be happening daily!

Q2. How should businesses change their websites to increase the likelihood of overseas orders? Or should they launch new sites?

@JamesGurd: The basic option is to at least offer multi-currency, though ideally local language version of pages via CMS
@cpbishop: Key is to remember the different payment methods – yes that’s v imp e.g. Germany pay on delivery
@kieronhughes – localisation of content. i.e. ‘football boots’ should be ‘soccer cleats’ in the US. A lot of sites forget these nuances
‏@cpbishop : Couldn’t agree more; trainers (sneakers) & jumpers (sweaters) is still commonplace with UK brands going to the US
‏@brandbillie: Exactly! It’s imperative to get local native content editors instead of simply translating the site
@CarissaColes: I agree with you. It’s really an investment hiring native content editors
@cpbishop: and native customer service staff (plus if extended to social media)
@MontseCano: Challenge, from experience, is to achieve cost-effectiveness 1/2
@gingerwarriorx: which ties into ‘infrastructure’ deliveries & Returns can add days / weeks to turnaround
@MontseCano: But also internal buy-in. Getting the best means paying for it too.

Q3: How should website owners go about marketing themselves internationally?

@cpbishop: Research or get assistance to understand the market, potential market size and budget (or test budget)
@cpbishop: Standard media buying is key but remember though that your brand (typically) means zero,so can’t just rely on brand PPC
@kieronhughes: Might sound obvious, but make sure you rank organically for your brand name in the new region(s) you enter
@kieronhughes: And not just [brand name], get the basics working like [brand name] + ‘contact’, etc.
@danbarker: ‘brand name reviews’ an important one i guess, and checking what appears for ‘brand name coupon codes’ or local similar!
@kieronhughes: Yeah, also knowing what regions associate your brand with. i.e. trends like ‘brand+trainers’ need to be catered for
@marcusbowlerhat: Interesting post here on doing regional keyword research: https://moz.com/ugc/using-the-new-adwords-keyword-planner-for-local-seo-keyword-research … – get a little more granular.

@brandbillie has also gathered togetherr a set of exclusive videos and slides on ‘Going Global’ at the last EcommerceUK event, courtesy of her company Cranberry Panda. These detail four brands who continue to overcome local challenges in a global strategy and how they continue to expand

Do spread the word to anyone you think may be interested, do join in the next #EcomChat if you’re free, or simply follow the #EcomChat hashtag on Twitter. If you’re wondering “what is this all about?” there is an about page with more info.

Thanks!

Dan & James. (and a very big thanks to Billie Graham for writing this post!)

International Ecommerce #EcomChat Key Points

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