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3 Reasons Why You Should Take Your Brand Global

By Joanna Gonzales, ShipStation.

As shopping online becomes more prominent in the digital age, brands are focused on ramping up their presence and development with online sales. According to Business Insider, US e-commerce growth has continually outpaced the total retail market over the past six years.

The rise of online shopping can be attributed to both e-commerce brands and marketplaces using personalization, creativity, and innovation to provide a desired product or service to their consumers.

As most people adapt to e-commerce, surprisingly, not all are selling internationally. The problem with not adapting to global selling is that you’re missing out on a huge piece of the retail sales cake. International e-commerce sales reached 1.9 trillion dollars in 2016, which accounts for 8.7 percent of total retail spending worldwide. Choosing to not be a part of this space could mean a major disadvantage for the growth and profits of your company.

With that being said, here are three additional reasons why your company needs to consider global e-commerce:

Expand To New Markets

The US has increased online retail sales year over year, spiking in the winter for Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, and New Year. Keep in mind that there are just as many opportunities to profit by being available to your target consumers for celebrations in other countries around the world.

If your product is unique to your country but could be valuable elsewhere, this could be a great chance to introduce your product to a new market. Doing so can cut out a lot of the competition and will make a positive impact on your sales.

As another example: let’s say your company is selling swimsuits in the US and you had a high-demanding and profitable summer season. But, after the season is over, you notice the amount of your order requests are decreasing. Well, If you take advantage of selling globally, you can target people in Australia or South America where summer is just beginning. This example can be applied to several products and will help to keep your order volumes consistent throughout the year.

It’s Easier Than Ever Before

Thanks to technology advancements, you can run your global shipments online whether you’re sitting on your back porch or on-the-go. Take care of everything from the comfort of your tablet or mobile device.

If you need a resource, ShipStation offers a mobile app for its users to import and manage orders. The benefits include but aren’t limited to:

  • Wireless label printing
  • Scan to view orders with your phone camera
  • View insights and analytics
  • Generate end of day scan forms

Take advantage of the tools available and easily apply mobile technology to your workflow and become more efficient.

Take Advantage of Social Media

Another exciting factor is that popular social media sites such as Pinterest and Instagram provide an effective platform for their users to promote and sell products worldwide. Leverage your entire global audience instead of limiting yourself to a national audience.

What makes these platforms so effective is that you can display your product to millions of active users around the world, using interactive videos or photos.

On Instagram, you can post a link to your website on your personal bio and let them know you ship worldwide. Additionally, there are many opportunities to sell directly from Instagram.

Interact with your audience and reply to their comments and questions on your posts to drive deeper engagement. These interactions increase credibility for your company and make loyal, returning customers.

As you consider expanding your business into profitable international e-commerce territory, remember the many tools and resources available to you. Best of luck – now go conquer the world.


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