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Why Should You Consider International Shipping?
You may be new to the whole international shipment thing, or you may have trial and error sessions several times. But spreading your business across the border sure has some benefits. For facts, you can check the section below.
- Increased Brand Visibility: The familiarity of your business increases trust among the customers. The foreign expansion of business also has a significant effect on your local market.
- Expanded Customer Base: If you avail your business to the global market, your business opens itself to even greater numbers of customers. A more significant number of customers gives you a greater number of sales.
- Testing a New Market: You never know the potential of your business outside your local boundary unless you try it out.
- Product Alternatives For Customers: Customers worldwide always want better alternatives for the certain product that they are using. They may also not have a specific product produced internally in their country. So having an e-commerce business providing those may help them.
Global Ecommerce Statistics
- Regarding the emarketer estimates, in 2017, the retail e-commerce sales grew to 2.304 trillion dollars, boosting it upto 24.8% from 2016.
- 70% of online shopping is done internationally.
- 93% of online retailers provide international shipment by 2019; if they did not ship internationally before then, they plan to do so from 2019 onwards.
- The average global order value is 17% more than the average domestic order value of a sale.
Prepare Your Business For International Shipment
If the statistics and the previous facts got you excited about international shipment, you need to prepare your business for international shipment. You need to make the right shipping decisions for your global e-commerce to perform well. Here are some of the guidelines for you to utilize in the perfect e-commerce strategy.
- First, you need to build an international shipping strategy.
- You can ship internationally through Shopify.
- Calculate the proper shipment charge for international customers.
- Preparing packages for your products.
- You have to understand the country regulations of the country that you are shipping to.
- Work with multiple shipment carriers.
Build An International Shipping Strategy
There are no limited rules or strategies for making international shipping easy and successful, but here are some key principles that need your attention to strategize international shipping successfully. As the freight shipping trend shifts towards greater efficiency through digitalization and automation, staying updated with technological advancements can also significantly improve your shipping strategy.
What To Ship And Where
Your first step is to select the country where you will be shipping your goods and what type of product you will be shipping. I have given here some easy guidelines to avoid getting caught up in the very early phase.
Analyze The Current DemandÂ
Analyze the current traffic on your website to identify the larger number of foreign customers who show interest in your product. Or you can directly respond to the request made by interested customers of particular countries.
Start With Neighboring Countries
It is best to start with a nearby country as the base of your foreign business expansion. Starting small with a closer location from a domestic business location helps you have a closer look at the performance of your business and the customer feedback.
Overcome The Language Differences
Use of the native language of the country you are availing shipment to draws you closer to the customers of that country. Using their language to communicate with the customer makes them comfortable to do business with you.
Know What To ShipÂ
When expanding your business to a different country, you need to understand whether a product has demand in that country or not. Suppose you make all the products available for a country you are shipping to, may be a bad idea. Rather, you can choose a set of products that have potential customers and ship them over to that country.
Follow The Rules And Regulations
You must know the rules and regulations of the country to which you are shipping your products. After checking on the market interest and the proper foreign market for the products, it is best to know the business rules a country has set for foreign traders and businesses.Â
Some countries prohibit some specific items or limit them. An effortful awareness of the country’s rules and regulations helps you make smooth delivery decisions, positively impacting your overseas business.
Use Shopify For Shipping
Shopify offers you access to discounted rates UPS, USPS, DHL Express, and Canada Post if you are a merchant from the USA or Canada. In addition, your purchase of international shipping labels automatically generates the documentation and lets you print it.Â
Using DHL Express transmits the documentation electronically to the customer, helping you skip the hassle of paperwork.
Shipping Cost
Shipping costs are one of the major concerns of overseas shipment. You must be careful that the shipment does not cost too much. The postal shipment is probably the cheapest, but it is slow. You can use Express carriers.
Set Sail
As I mentioned step by step, you must concentrate on proper business strategies for foreign grounds, then think about shipping your product right away. Doing so will make the process systematic and organized, making a better way towards profit. There are more to international business strategies, like delivery options and tracking.
There are different types of delivery expectations among customers. So, your delivery options need to be flexible. You should also help the customers with the shipment tracking option. Customers love to keep track of their purchased items, and you should avail that to them and insurance for safe delivery of the product.
With all these primary shipping strategies in mind, you can load up your ship and finally set sail. Let me know if you find this article helpful. If you have any issues or feedback, then share it as well.
