Taking your eCommerce business global is not a small task. It requires forward planning, preparation and strategizing. However, it can mean an increase in profits, business growth and worldwide recognition. You must consider if it’s the right time for you, and that it makes sense. However; if it is something that is right for your business, we’re here to provide some helpful steps to ensure a smooth and beneficial expansion.
A Global Friendly Website
How your store is optimized will affect how well your move to a global business will go. The UX (user experience) is crucial to keeping customers on side. The website needs to be usable, understandable and with a clear buying funnel.
There are some important elements to consider:
Location Settings
Your merchandising should be relevant to the location you are selling in, and dynamic content is a great way to achieve this. If your global store sells to both Australia and Europe, you should make sure that your merchandising reflects the current season in that place. When it is summer in Europe, it’s winter in Australia. So offering the same merchandising for both would be a bad move.
Language
In countries where English is not the primary language, it’s important to make sure that your translation services are up to date. There are applications that you can use in order to achieve this successfully. Making sure that the tone of the language matches your brand image and style in your original language is also important here.
If you have chat AI assistants on your website, these also need to be able to function in different languages effectively. Any customer service representatives should all be relevant to the country that people are reaching out from.
Currency & Checkout
Prices, shipping rates and local currency are all dependent on where you are shipping. It’s important to power your website with a system that can take all of this into account. Checkout options will differ in different countries, but it’s crucial that it works seamlessly wherever you are selling. Having difficulty at checkout is a big no in order to achieve eCommerce success.
Quick Loading Time
If your main server is located in the US but you are selling to India, you need to make sure that the loading time in India isn’t too long. Slow page loading times reduce SEO and will increase bounce rate. Content delivery strategies can speed up your website, which is important in achieving success globally.
Mobile Optimization
It’s crucial that your brand is optimized for mobile, as we all know how important M-Commerce is to the success of your business. This should be achieved throughout different regions, so all of the other considerations for the website should also be applied here. Having a mobile app that is optimized to each region is a way of making sure that this can be achieved successfully.
Diversify Your Marketing
Brand recognition is hard to achieve in one country, let alone worldwide. When you are setting up your business to go global, it’s important to consider a marketing strategy to make sure shoppers know about your brand. There’s no use trying to sell globally if people don’t know about you.
Marketing that applies to specific trending topics in each country, as well as social media expertise is important. Different social media applies in different countries, and the ways shoppers respond to outreach differs. The culture and behavior in each specific place should be understood. One way to achieve this would be to hire local freelancers, especially those who have an up to date understanding of social media in the region.
Prioritize Consistency
Even across an omnichannel strategy in one region, it’s important to have consistency across the different channels. The same brand tone, voice, style and color theme should be used. This creates a strong and easily identifiable brand image. When taking your business global, this needs to extend over the different countries.
Make sure that the quality of your products remains consistent. This might mean slightly more expensive products in one region, depending on the costs of the manufacturers. But you should not compromise on this, as it will affect your brand’s reputation, which is hard won.
Keep Tracking Progress
As with any changes in your eCommerce strategy, it is important to make sure you are aware of the impacts being had. Continue A/B testing, checking analytics and seeing how everything is going. If global expansion isn’t the best move, it’s better to find out sooner rather than later. Decide which KPI’s you are measuring from, and be realistic with your goals. If the international system doesn’t work in one country, there are always other areas to move to. Slow and steady is the best way moving forward.
Conclusion
There can be many benefits to global expansion of your eCommerce business. However it comes with challenges. In order to successfully take your eCommerce business global, make sure you follow these tips, and continuously check to make sure it’s worth your time.