In the past, when people thought of global e-commerce the first brands that popped into their heads were well-known giants. Nowadays, thanks to the Internet, a company no longer needs to be big to go global. According to WorldBank, Small and Medium Enterprises account for about 90% of businesses and more than 50% of employment worldwide. As promising as it seems, the road to global success is paved with obstacles. With the right strategies in place, any retailer can overcome the challenges of international e-commerce.
Let’s talk about going global with your e-commerce business with a helping hand from Retargeting Biz.
What about an office?
Expanding your presence cross-border has considerable bureaucratic and logistic implications. When considering the challenges of international e-commerce, among the first barriers that come to mind are linked to an office. A physical presence is synonymous with rent, administrative expenses, insurance, equipment, and supplies. Just imagine the investment you would need to make to keep even a few employees on payroll. The figures can get discouraging quickly.
Is outsourcing an option?
The idea of establishing a satellite office vanishes quickly, leaving room for other tactics. The defining business functions for an online store are its operations, marketing, and customer support activities. Therefore, unless you are able to deliver orders, and keep close contact with your customers, your e-store cannot flourish.
It might seem natural to just pick a partner for each region you are addressing. Depending on how many markets you are seeking to penetrate, the challenges of international e-commerce might become threatening. Your brand might suffer if your services are inconsistent across countries. Furthermore, coordinating numerous collaborators can deplete significant resources rapidly.
What can you do to avoid this? Seek partners with a regional presence, already covering the markets you target. There are several notable names in the eFulfillment and Customer Support sectors. So finding the right fit should run smoothly.
From a marketing perspective, however, things become more complex. Big agencies are never a favorite among those fond of their budgets. Not to add the lengthy path from creation to execution and communication issues. What are you supposed to do now?
Let’s talk about Retargeting Biz
Luckily there is Retargeting Biz, the all-in-one marketing automation tool through which you can keep your online shop afloat across borders, without any of the previously mentioned worries.
Using Retargeting Biz, you will be able to connect with new customers more deeply than you might imagine. Leveraging machine learning, you can send highly personalized campaigns to every single customer. Whether you want email, pop-up, push notification, or SMS campaigns, Retargeting Biz will help you master your marketing activities in just a few clicks! Once you’ve caught their attention, always keep in touch. Use our remarketing campaigns across Google, Facebook, and Instagram.
Let’s have a look at some examples!
One of our clients, Savelectro, extended their business abroad using nothing more than our platform. As a result, they can operate their Hungarian online shop remotely, avoiding the costs associated with a physical presence and a local marketing team.
VeroSlim, the tea of Romanian celebrities, had a reversed approach. With an already established presence in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Romania, the company decided to centralize their marketing activities through Retargeting Biz. As a result, all their campaigns are efficiently executed and administered through our platform with minimal effort.
What about language & culture?
Language and cultural differences can become a pain point for your business if you seek to grow your online shop internationally. When addressing a new market, speak to your customers on their own terms. Understand how they think, how they make decisions, and what values define them.
To make sure you get the message across, you will need to sound as natural as possible. This is closely linked to the cultural or social context. Get familiar with the cultural background before deciding upon your marketing strategy. If you don’t, all your business plans might go to waste in a matter of seconds.
Take Revlon for example. During the late ‘90s, they attempted to launch a fragrance scented with Camellia flowers in Brazil. However, they were not aware that these flowers were only used for funerals. As a result, the company came under harsh scrutiny and the product was recalled.
With a presence in four European countries (Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Greece) and expansion plans across three more, Retargeting Biz can help you overcome cultural and language barriers and replicate local success internationally. How? By leveraging the company’s own global resources. For example, if your business is headquartered in Bucharest and you have distinct e-shops for various countries (e.g. domain.ro, domain.bg, domain.hu, etc.), you can manage all your campaigns through our automated all-in-one marketing tool.
Our platform provides predefined marketing content in seven languages (English, Romanian, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, and Bulgarian), but you can customize all your marketing campaigns.
Summary
The challenges of international e-commerce are not to be neglected, despite the opportunities available nowadays. Leveraging international presence and resources, Retargeting Biz can help you overcome language barriers and replicate local success internationally. Before deciding upon a marketing strategy, consult with our Account Managers to become aware of local cultural particularities. Forget about rent and payroll expenses. With Retargeting Biz, you can easily operate your business remotely and efficiently. Use our personalized marketing campaigns to build strong, long-lasting relationships with your foreign customers to see your business grow.