Entering a foreign market is not something that companies should do spontaneously. You need a thorough strategy and must first focus on your domestic market. If you are not succeeding locally, where you should be most familiar with the culture and its people, how can you hope to understand the international business world? Next, you will have to do extensive research, and expand your existing products and services to demonstrate to people you value. Adding e-commerce to your current website would also be beneficial, and as would looking at what your competition has done, in order to see what has worked for them. Here are 5 strategies for entering a new foreign market.
The domestic market
Before you venture into the unknown, you must focus on achieving success in the domestic market. Does your target audience use your products and services where you are currently located? How much profit have you been in the past few months? Give yourself at least a few years to grow until you start exporting internationally.
Research the new markets
How well do you understand the overseas markets which you hope to enter? It’s important to remember that different countries operate differently. The people are not the same, nor is the culture and everyday habits. Your research should span over the period of a few months, and not merely weeks. The same way you created a thorough persona of your domestic customer, you must do the same for every new country that you want to operate in.
Finesse your products and services
You should not only finesse your products and services but expand into more categories and provide people with more options. Think of it this way – the more you create and offer, the greater the chance that more people will use it. Plus, when you first operate in a new type of market, there will be a learning curve to figuring out what resonates best with your new audience.
Online retail
Adding e-commerce to your website will make it much easier for you to export your goods and services. The other option would have been to open up physical stores in your various foreign markets, but this would also be more expensive. Instead, add the option of international shipping to your existing online retail and you have solved a lot of problems! Keep in mind that it would be beneficial to use various programs and apps in order to grow your capabilities. For example, SellerCloud is a software company that helps online retailers solve any challenges, and even assists with Amazon integration, thus providing you with the ability to operate in the world’s largest online retail marketplace.
Look at your competition
Your competitors can teach you a lot of lessons, and so you should take a look at what they have done in the past. If they have expanded into the global market, and some of them undoubtedly have, were they successful? If they were, analyze how, and do the same if they weren’t. A goal of any company is to be better than the others, and you must thus learn how to out-smart them by studying what they have done.
Bonus: Consider Category Design
One of the business strategies and disciplines that help companies create and dominate product or service new categories is category design. It extends beyond existing business models, in which category design aims to develop a unique product or service product that has never been seen in the market.
The concept of category design was first realized in the book entitled “Play Bigger,” which lays out the basis of the importance of this business strategy. The growth of a category happens in six to 10 years, and share prices decrease with the maximum growth period. So it is better for companies to launch a new category design between the 6th to the 10th year period to dominate the market.
Take a look at these important things you should know about category design creation:
Category design creation shares roots with the original product or service class, delivering exponentially better economic benefits and experience.
The new category design is a graduate from the original product or service class.
A new category design comes with distinctive profit and business models.
Category design creation requires innovation. Your team members should re-think their roles beyond designing and developing new products and services.
Embrace Digital Technology
Advanced technologies are dominating the business world. So you have to be ready to enter a new market using a more sophisticated business system, tools, and equipment, most especially a foreign market. By doing so, you’ll be able to provide convenient, fast, and high-quality products and services.
Take a look at these digital technology considerations before entering a new market:
Scalability of your business communication system for a faster and better connection with clients and investors.
The use of artificial intelligence or AI products and services to speed up production and for sales and marketing purposes.
The compatibility of current and prospective business systems must be considered for easy transitioning to avoid delays, mistakes, and expenses.
There is a lot more to consider before entering a foreign market than the four tips mentioned here, but this is a start. The takeaway should be that the decision should be strategic in nature and putting in time and effort is key when looking at overall strategies for entering a new foreign market.
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