Take Your Retail Business Global
How to take your retail business global
The best time to take your retail business global is right now!
Online shopping is growing rapidly and becoming more and more popular. The internet has produced a level playing field for global business, where it is possible for any online retailer to compete successfully. For retail businesses of all sizes, global selling is now a necessity to continue to increase their sales.
With this in mind, there are some steps you will need to take to prepare your business to sell globally and launch successfully.
Market research for global retail
You have decided to expand your retail business to capture a global audience. Is your product in demand in other countries? The first step is to invest time in researching the global market to see if your products will be in demand by overseas consumers. If so, just experiment with one country first, to see how it goes.
Prepare your website for global retail
In order to conduct business worldwide, your website will need some additions and updates.
Your shipping calculators will need to be updated to let your customers know the cost of shipping internationally.
You will need to introduce systems to process the sales taxes of other countries, as different countries have different tax regulation. At checkout you will need a variety of payment processes to suit international customers.
Before you open your business to overseas customers, you will need to communicate with theses shoppers in their own languages. As only about one seventh of the world’s population speak English, which means there are billions of people who don’t. They will need to be able to read product descriptions in their own languages. To do this efficiently, hire native translators for this, don’t rely on Google translate. You won’t be able to have every known language translation on your site, but you can do the most logical ones relevant to that country.
Search engine optimisation for global retail
This day and age SEO is extremely important, especially when trying to target international customers. The search engines are trying to localise search engine results to be relevant to the needs of the searcher. This is making it harder for businesses to sell globally.
If you want to go all out with international SEO, you could set up alternative websites in other languages, or for specific regions of the world. For these, you could perform your keyword research by taking into account local dialects and colloquialisms.
Social media for global retail
Today, social media is more important than ever for a global retail business to advertise their brand, connect with their customers and give personalised service.
Study your successful competitors to see how they manage their social media and what platforms they use. Facebook, Instagram, Google Plus, Twitter and Pinterest are the most popular platforms to use for business.
Making the shift to take your retail business global is not easy, but the benefits will surely outweigh any problems you may encounter.
If you’re loving the idea of going global with your business but have no idea where to start, start by contacting the team at Easy Consulting today. Our team of highly-qualified humans will exceed any expectations with Social Media Marketing, Website Design, and SEO.