The world of commerce gets smaller and smaller every day, as processes are made faster, connectivity is increased, and technologies are developed that allow us to do business with every corner of the world. Even very small businesses can now think about selling their products and services around the globe – is it time you considered doing the same?
There are obvious benefits to trading internationally. Where you might currently have a customer base in the hundreds and thousands, you could well be selling to millions of people. Having a bigger market to appeal to is rarely a bad thing, and if you can start thinking bigger, then it’s a no brainer. You could start making a lot more money, which may allow your business to expand rapidly. Of course, you should think about a couple of things first:
Meeting the Criteria
Trading in other countries is not always going to be like trading in your own. Often, you’ll encounter hardly any differences at all, but if you’re going further afield, there may be major differences. Taxes and other financial aspects like this are relatively obvious, but one of the things that does catch people out is the fact that there are differing regulations for products around the world. Certain items – toys in particular – have strict regulations in some places that you might not have thought about. It’s very important to be aware of all legislation in the country you’re doing business. As well as this, sales and customer services support can be difficult if you’re interacting in a different language, and you may face difficulties finding the right staff. Getting things wrong can cause legal issues as well as financial ones.
Point to Point
Actually, getting your products to their destination is worth thinking about too. We all know how easy it is to send a parcel as far afield as somewhere like China, but when you start adding up the costs, it can end up being difficult to be competitive if you’re sending individual items. Sometimes it’s better to send things in bulk, and then have them distributed there for you. It all depends on the price of your products, and whether they’re worth sending individually or not.
If you think that you can easily begin sending your products abroad, and it won’t be a detriment to your current business, then it’s well worth it. Do your research beforehand and you could widen your customer base orders to far more than what you’ve got now.
