Expanding horizons: Driving ecommerce success with worldwide growth

Ecommerce has gone global and sales are expected to grow 9.4% this year alone. If you haven’t tapped into markets overseas, you could be missing out on new buyers.

We know expanding to new markets is easier said than done and can pose major logistical challenges. That’s why we recommend starting by taking stock of your infrastructure and implementing technologies to help you keep up with new demands.

To maximize the value of these technology investments, you need to integrate your entire ecommerce tech stack. This will help you ensure you’re able to automate processes and smoothly move buyers through the customer journey no matter where they’re located.

Before you set out to expand your global reach, take time to assess your readiness and prepare your operations.

Is your business ready to scale?

The first step to successful expansion is determining if your business is ready to scale. To break into global markets your team must employ new marketing strategies and quickly adapt your logistics to guarantee accurate results despite added complexity.

Here are a few questions you should consider before you dive in:

1. Is there a demand for your products in these countries?
2. Are people actively searching for your goods?
3. When reviewing your analytics data, which countries are navigating to your site?

Prepare your operations in 5 steps

If there is demand for your product globally, it’s time to get your operations ready to launch into new markets. Follow these five steps to prepare:

1. Adopt an enterprise ecommerce platform

To deliver excellent experiences despite increased traffic to your online stores, consider utilizing an enterprise ecommerce platform. These platforms offer the necessary support, features, and infrastructure to drive success globally. For example, enterprise ecommerce platforms support multiple currencies, payment options, and storefronts.

2. Determine fulfillment and shipping services

Whether you decide to use a third-party logistics (3PL) provider or a fulfillment service company, you will need to ensure you can easily ship your products to these new regions. Fulfilling orders correctly and quickly is key to your success.

3. Prepare your finance and accounting systems

The main currency in your local market may differ from those in new global markets you aim to enter. You’ll need to relay cost information to clients in their local currency. To make this process smooth, you should update your pricing strategy to offer the prices and payment options that your new markets desire. You will also need to ensure you are tax compliant and pay any necessary international duties.

4. Consider country-by-country restrictions

Most products are generally safe to sell across international borders, but it’s important to review each country to ensure your products aren’t restricted. Product restrictions vary by country and even specific regions within countries, so take the time to understand restrictions to avoid costly legal fees.

You should also consider how your goods will be stored and transported and obtain the appropriate certifications, fees, and licenses required to distribute your items. You must understand the regulations for any market you want to get into before committing to a presence in that area.

5. Integrate your tech stack

Following the steps above will give you a good start, but without integrating your ecommerce tech stack, you can run into a variety of problems. For example, to automatically update inventory levels and send shipping updates to your customers, you should integrate your systems to sync real-time data with your 3PL provider.

Platforms like your ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system, warehouse management systems, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems, marketplaces, should all be integrated. This will allow you to automate manual processes that slow down your teams and eliminate mistakes caused by manual errors. With a modern iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) you can easily build and manage these integrations without relying on IT.

For a step-by-step guide for how to integrate your ecommerce systems, check out our eBook, “The scoop on mastering ecommerce automation: Your guide to end-to-end integration.”