Marketing goods and services online is a way to level the playing field. Online product sellers come large and at the top of the product supply chain: At industry auction sites … Through offshore contract manufacturers … In surplus and salvage operations by the truck load … Via import/export product exchanges through requests for bid.
However, through Internet sales and marketing, even smaller players can carve out profits: As online auctioneers … In niche merchandise markets … As resellers and re-distributors serving smaller scale, independent retailer needs.
Here’s industry expert advice to increase online profits and make the most of online sales by expanding into the right international markets. This set of tips will cover WHERE. A follow-up article at Top Ten Wholesale Newsroom will list HOW TO.
1. Export Targets and Product Categories
The best geographic prospects to expand international online sales are noted below. See Expand Sales to International Markets and Monitoring European Online Purchase Patterns.
Here are Product Categories and Why’s:
· The United Kingdom is an attractive expansion target for U.S. online sellers because of its market size, online shopper sophistication and – big benefit – lack of a language barrier.
· The Netherlands (top-ranking Nordic European market for online purchasing as seen in the chart below) has a stable online economy expected to reach 12 Billion Euros in the year 2011, plus a long history of international trade.
· Strong Product Categories for International Expansion: Consumer Electronics; Music and Books; Travel and Tourism.
2. Expand Sales to International Markets
· Enlarge Customer Base Across National Boundaries. Usage Statistic: 79% of ALL web users are now outside the U.S. Many have fast broadband connections and are quite comfortable doing business online outside their own countries.
· Look At Trans-National Consumer Buyer Trends. Thirty-three percent of European consumers purchased a product/service online in the past 12 months. And that online buyer statistic is even higher for developed northern European countries: Over 50% of online purchases took place in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Nordic countries.
· Take Advantage of Weak Dollar. No point in gnashing teeth: The $US has dropped against all benchmark international currencies for the past three years. That weaker US dollar value makes imports into the United States more expensive. But that same weak $US is a value-price motivator for online shoppers in Europe and the Far East. International customers get an automatic discount dealing in dollars.
(Source: Anders Andersen, founder of JumpB)
3. Monitor European Online Market
· Preference for American Products. According to research conducted by JumpB (cited above), consumers in Europe’s largest online buyer nations have a “distinct preference” for American products; and they “often go through great trouble to purchase products from U.S. online retailers.” Tapping this pre-existing preference is a solid way to build online profits … by lowering transaction barriers for foreign buyers.
· Lower Transaction Barrier #1: Enter the Right Foreign Markets. Online consumer habits and shopping tends to fragment from one European culture/country to another. However, a group of Northwestern (Nordic and Northern European) countries are mature markets in online shopping. They have the highest percentage of online shoppers among their total consumers. This is the international geographic area on which to focus.
· Lower Transaction Barrier #2: Enter Stable European Markets. Northern European and Nordic countries with the most mature online shoppers have also been generally ignored by American online sellers. Underserved opportunity knocks. In addition, their economies have grown at an annual compound growth rate of 20% to a total market size of 18 Billion Euros … a robust combined gross domestic product.
· Already Lowered Transaction Barrier #3: High Internet Literacy. A final push into the Northwestern/Nordic geographic market is high rates of broadband Internet connectivity, familiarity and ease with online shopping at secure sites, and overall online tech literacy.
4. European Online Purchase Patterns – By Country
The chart below shows at a glance where the populations cluster who bought the most products online in 2007. Note that the Highest Online Buyer Countries are the high bars clustered at the left of the chart. The high-buyer countries include: Norway, Germany, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, and Denmark.
European Online Purchase Patterns
(Sources: JumpB; www.eurostat.eu)
