Sale the Seas…

A friend of mine works for a large department store and we often get on to the subject of how they do business internationally. It wasn’t until I poked and prodded her knowledge bank that I began to even feel comfortable with the idea of selling anything outside the U.S. Until now, I thought like most young entrepreneurs do: doing business internationally is difficult and expensive and who needs it if your business already does well here? If you really want to increase sales to another level, this is the direction you’re going to have to go. And with a little research, you’ll begin to see it’s not hard at all.

There are three main things to consider when making the decision to do business internationally:

Do you know those international customers well enough to market to them? Do you know what kind of direct marketing they prefer? Do you know if they’ve already seen your ad that runs on TV or will you be starting out as a new face to them? It’s so crucial to know how to market towards other countries, that you really have to buy a plane ticket and go do the research on-site, yourself. There are different trends in the fashion industry for instance – just because your brand of clothing is doing well in the U.S., does not mean sales will be golden overseas.

Another thing to consider is understanding their culture overall – what do they like to do in the spare time, do they listen to friends or family for buying advice, do they have better materials to make the item than you do, will they be able to understand your website as it stands currently? Chances are all of these will affect your decision. There are easy fixes to these issues though. A website can be shown in multiple languages with the click of a button. And depending on what your audience likes to see, you could have a movie, text, or the product you’re selling that pops up to get their attention.

Finally, the biggest issue you’ll face is learning about the shipping rules. How much will it cost for you to ship your items to other countries? How much longer will the shipping times be? Are there certain products that countries won’t accept? Does this culture use credit cards? And how does all of this affect your bottom line?

If you’re considering doing business internationally, take a trip there and really get to know your audience and their buying behaviors so that you can make the most of your sales efforts. While I’m not sure my pet-sitting or gourmet dog treat business ideas can work across the seas, I know my husband has looked at spreading his web designer wings across them in an effort to increase visibility and thus, sales. It doesn’t make me nervous now that I understand what’s involved. It’s simple but it really depends on if you have the right product for those markets.

Can you spare a square?

Admit it -- We’ve all ran into a store last minute buying toilet paper because we ran out at home. Your relief is overwhelming when you stand at the check-out line with the two 24+1 bonus larger than life packages. While embarrassed, you’re just excited that they actually had the brand you wanted and that there was more than one on the shelf. Your deep sighs of relief stem from a consistent history of the store always being out of what you need. Just because we forget and need something last minute, why does that matter? It’s an item that is in high demand – shouldn’t the shelves be overflowing with cute Charmin puppies by now?

Chances are you have visited a store that does not utilize an automated inventory control system, or does not use it effectively. One of these control systems is called “Just-in-Time (JIT)” inventory. This method of controlling inventory allows a store to know at any given time exactly how many of any item is on the shelf. This allows them to set up par levels, or minimum levels, and instructs the system to atomically order more of that item from the supplier when it gets below a certain point. This ensures the item will always be in stock. Management not only prefers this automatic inventory control system because it saves staff time and energy manually counting items each day, but it saves from having to pay the supplier money for inventory that isn’t in demand and just sits on the shelf. With lower production costs, more efficient employees, and automatic ordering, how could a store go wrong?

For starters, their suppliers must be reliable. If their suppliers have long lead times or their shipping dates have been unreliable, it makes it a challenge for your store to order the quantity it really needs. If it’s an item that is difficult to forecast sales on, then the inventory level might never be right. But with the right reliable supplier and up to date trends analysis on certain products like games, a store can always have what you need, when you need it. Because when you run next door to your neighbor’s house and ask to borrow some toilet paper, I doubt they are going to take the excuse that “my store doesn’t make effective use of their inventory control system.”