Considering international expansion? Good for you, but before you begin rolling out products into new markets, be sure to check out the essential things that should be done below.
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Confirm there is a genuine market for your product
One of the biggest mistakes that businesses make small or large is that they do not confirm that there is genuine need and market for the product or service they are offering before they launch it.
The way to do this is to follow a two point testing and research plan. The first step is to make sure that you get your target market involved from the very beginning. This is because they will provide valuable insight into the type of problems they have they need solving, and this is where the ideation of your product should come from. Then once you have your products, be sure to use market and customer research to refine it and test the branding and marketing you will use.
Of course, for products that you are launching internationally, you will need to go through these stages for each location you plan to sell in. Oh, and don’t be surprised if you need to make adjustments for some markets that are a little different from the other markets you will be selling in.
Ensure that you can scale up your infrastructure accordingly
Successful international expansion relies on businesses being able to scale up to meet demand. There are two types of scale-up that you need to get right. The first one is internal. This means scaling up all the elements of your business that you can control internally, that you will need more of to make your expansion successful. When internally scaling up, you need to consider factors such as your production facilities and whether they will be sufficient for the increase in orders, and your offices and whether they will be able to house the equipment and employees you need to run your expanded business. For these types of things, you may choose to add additional facilities in your home country, or if there are savings to be made, you may wish to consider adding additional facilities in the Continents or countries you’ll be expanding to.
You will also need to think about employees, as it’s likely you will need to employ and recruit more people to meet the growing needs of expansion.
Scaling up external factors of your business is also something you will need to consider. These will include making sure your suppliers can meet your increased demand for materials. IIts also important that you make sure that the logistics services you use are large enough to handle an increase in orders, and that they deliver to the locations in which you will be expanding.
Take payments in multiple currencies
Another thing you will need to make sure your business can do if you are expanding internationally is receive and process payments in Multiple currencies. After all, there is no one single world currency, and the value of different currencies varies in relation to each other on a day-to-day basis. This is something that can make accepting payments internationally quite a challenge for a business.
The good news is You can find out more on this subject by checking out resources like this guide to multi currency payments which covers the international payment process. It also goes into how accepting payments in a wide range of currencies is best if you want to keep your customers happy which will be essential if your international expansion is to be a success.
Manage risk
International expansion is one of the riskier thingsF you can do with your business, and that is why you need to make sure you can competently manage risk. Managing risk is all about first identifying the potential threat to the success of your international expansion. Things like the geopolitical situation in a location you are considering expanding should be factored in, as well as currency fluctuations, Regulatory compliance and cultural adaptation.
One way you can protect against some of the risks you may expose your business to during international expansion is by investing in the right types of insurance. In particular, trade insurance can help you cover your losses if something goes wrong with your supply chain. A situation that is much more likely when running an international business because of the larger distances and increased complexity involved.
Additionally, having plans that can be easily enacted once an emergency happens is a very smart idea. Indeed such contingency plans should be written and set up well before you go forward with your international expansion. then if an emergency happens all you will need to do is put them in place to proactively deal with it and minimise any losses.
