Top 6 Internationalisation tips for online businesses in 2016

Give a great big cranberry welcome to our guest blogger, James Storie-Pugh, Managing Partner and Head of Client Relations at Pivot Commerce. He joins The Panda Express to share his top 6 internationalisation tips for online businesses in 2016. 

James' top 6 internationalisation tips for online brands and retailers

1. The world is your oyster

Not looking to sell internationally is missing potential incremental revenue streams and limiting the risk of having one’s national market as the cash cow. The process is not as simple as leveraging a national online store however with the proliferation of high quality product specific marketplaces the first steps can be taken without having the fear of the unknown. UK brands hold a valuable cache internationally that can easily be leveraged.

2. See what is behind the BRICS

Global growth drivers are shifting towards 6 new emerging market regions that have the potential to perform strongly in the coming years - (South East Asia, Sub-Sahara, Latin Amercia, Mexico, India). In contrast, in 2016, countries with limited economic policies or high levels of geopolitical risk (Russia) will be hardest hit by the emerging market economic slowdown.

3. Act like a local

The relevant country specific shopping days, national holidays and other gifting opportunities are key considerations in the marketing campaign cycles and considerably impact shopping patterns. A recent example is the 2015 Alibaba Singles day sale which generated $14.3Bn in 24 hours. Merchants who were not offering sufficient discount stock were excluded from the promotion and additionally in order to be included in the promotion merchants had to be physically holding the stock in China.

4. Facebook is not the rule

Social networks and smartphone usage have completely revolutionised online shopping in many emerging markets. In China recommendations made on regional social networks such as WeChat, QQ and Sina Weibo have become the most important factor in online shopping decisions. Case studies show brands who have recently expanded into China and integrated functionality with these social networks and seen over 30% of all referral traffic to their Chinese site came from these social media sites. A year later, this traffic accounts for 10% over of total site revenue.

5. Logistics are a make or break

Logistic capabilities, and the delivery timelines, that merchants are able to achieve are important and again large regional differences exist. Customers in China, especially Tier 1 cities, will typically cancel an order if its not received within 1 week but customers in SE Asia will wait up to 3 weeks for an order in more remote locations as long as their expectations are set appropriately at the time of purchase. Countries like New Zealand are closer than you may think with cost efficient air freight meaning short delivery times of 3 days are achievable.

6. Be Intellectual

IP and trademark protection is an area that companies are always concerned about as the necessary steps are often complex, time consuming and the costs can mount up. Registering your trademarks with the UK Intellectual Property office (IPO) allows you to then lodge your trademarks with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) covering up to 120 countries using the Madrid system.

About James Storie-Pugh 

James has 13+ years of international client and agency facing digital business experience gathered across 5 countries. He started working with the global Microsoft digital marketing team, working hand in hand with Y&R to establish a digital global marketing strategy.

Working then in Paris he set up and managed the UK division of a billion dollar European eCommerce company before heading to NYC to co-found his own eCommerce and digital marketing consultancy, focusing on LatAm and the US. He successfully exited to take up a key strategic role within Global Brands Group, restructuring the 30+ million European children's wear business.

In 2015, with 2 experienced industry peers, James set up Pivot Commerce a consultancy helping brands and retailers internationalise through digital sales channels integrating eCommerce strategic and operational consulting.

Want to know more? Visit Pivot Commerce or get in touch with James, and connect with him on LinkedIn too.