Christopher Govender, Team Mentor at Webinterpret, explains to customers what international online retailers should be curious about while planning to expand their businesses even more on foreign markets.
Curiosity is more important than knowledge – as Albert Einstein once said.
Although he didn’t know anything about ecommerce (or maybe he did but the world was not ready for it yet), this industry applies this tip daily in each of its steps forward.
Touch points
Did you know that your customers may have numerous touch points with your business? A touch point is a moment when your customer and potential customer come into contact with your business. It can be your webpage, an advertisement for your business, the customer service you are giving them or simply an email exchange.
It is always good to be in control of your business’s visibility and of the image conveyed to those who may be interested in buying items that you sell. Especially when you are selling internationally, buyers from foreign markets will search for your defect rate. Make sure that it is below 5%.
Customers’ pains
Do you know why your customers buy your products? Not just because they want them or like them. They actually wouldn’t buy them if the products were not relieving their pains. Even if you are selling beautiful winter coats of the best quality and at a low price, selling them in countries where it is now summer will not lead to best results. Your customers may also not see any reason to buy a daily needs products from another country when they have a store around the corner that can supply them with – for example – diapers or dairy products.
So before you sell your product on a foreign market answer this question: Why should someone buy the product that I am selling from abroad? Maybe because it is unique and its price is lower or there is no such item in the buyer’s domestic country. Then highlight that in the item description.
Competitors
Even if your revenue is higher now when selling internationally and the number of your customers is still growing, this doesn’t mean that there is nobody out there selling the same products with even higher revenue and a larger range of customers. What is more, they might be hungry for your customers. That is why you should never get too comfortable, even if everything seems to be under control.
We recommend monitoring the markets in which your competitors operate, the language they speak to their customers and the added value of the items that they offer their customers. Ask yourself a question: what can I learn from the competitors? This will help you to see future opportunities for your business. You can use eBay insights and Terapeak to get more information on your competitors and the best price.
Ecommerce platform
Find out if the ecommerce platform you are selling on is a match for the potential of your business. It might be worth considering selling your items not only on one ecommerce market but on a few. Many online retailers have decided to sell internationally on eBay and Amazon simultaneously with Webinterpret. By selling on both these platforms together you may reach about 326 million customers.
Customer Service
After finding out how to deal with your customers’ pains and who your competitors are, you may have an idea of what your customer service should look like. This is of utmost importance because 78% of consumers have bailed on a transaction or not made an intended purchase because of a poor service experience. Make your customers love you before they love your competitors.
2 Responses
What about all the things Webinterpret should be curious about. All the sellers who have had huge problems with them. Translation of items poor, variation translations wrong, poor communication and worst of all keeping over 6 months of money and almost ruining my business!
Interesting post with salient points for sellers everywhere but I do have questions.
You advise multichannel selling. Are you suggesting listing the same items (essentially the same listing) on more than one venue? If so, what is your workaround for Google’s duplicate content policy? Or, do you subscribe to the theory that it is all a myth?