5 key steps to expanding into international markets with TextMaster and Quable

Internationalisation is often a crucial milestone for SMEs and large companies operating online. Expanding your business internationally offers numerous benefits and presents an unmissable opportunity to drive sales and boost your turnover.

All this, provided you follow several essential steps to ensure a successful international launch.‍

Self-assessment

Self-reflection and taking stock of your business is an essential phase in your internationalisation process. It will help you identify your available resources, assess whether or not you currently have the capacity to expand internationally, and consequently determine what you are lacking and what you need. You may need to recruit new staff to launch your business in a new country or invest in new technological tools to ensure the distribution of your data, such as a PIM, for example. Whatever your chosen route to internationalisation (export, franchising, etc.), this self-assessment will enable you to reflect on the reasons behind this choice and lay the foundations for your internationalisation strategy.‍

Analysing the future market

Your brand-new marketing and international strategy must include market research into the target country. Each geographical region has its own consumers and their habits, as well as specific regulatory and legal requirements… and it would be a shame to be caught off guard by any of these factors, which could complicate your international launch. Consequently, your business plan must include an in-depth market analysis of the country in question, much like an audit: the online and/or in-store consumption habits of your target audience (do they use marketplaces such as Amazon, or payment solutions such as PayPal?), an overview of the competitive landscape abroad, an understanding of the local culture… all with the aim of creating a bespoke, personalised strategy that is, above all, tailored to the target country.

Preparing data to test the market

Testing your target market using international marketplaces is a beneficial, simple and quick option that requires little heavy investment. Furthermore, marketplaces also serve as a mark of trust, quality and visibility amongst the new consumers you wish to target who do not yet know you. Opting for these international marketplaces requires you to prepare your data in advance. This is where Quable’s PIM comes in, facilitating the management of this data beforehand and its distribution to the relevant marketplaces.

Quable works with all marketplaces, utilising feed aggregators such as Shoppingfeed, for example, which centralise product data for distribution to international marketplaces.

Think about translation, but above all, localisation

Translating content into the target language is an essential step in your international strategy. However, the current globalisation of markets calls for a strategy of adaptation. The translation and adaptation of your content must be of the highest quality to raise your profile amongst your new consumers, suppliers and/or partners. TextMaster utilises a range of technologies (translation APIs, translation memory, etc.) to deliver translated and localised content to the target country on time, so that your teams can focus on tasks with higher added value. TextMaster’s numerous integrations with various external solutions, such as WeGlot and the Quable PIM, ensure the rapid and reliable adaptation of product data for your new international audience.

Anticipating logistical challenges

Order processing, managing dispatches and returns, and forecasting order volumes are all aspects that will form an integral part of your logistics strategy. To reassure your future customers, opt for local delivery and payment options tailored to the consumption habits of the target country. These choices will also enable you to provide optimal, reliable and trustworthy after-sales service, thereby maximising your sales. An effective logistics strategy must be tailored to your company’s business and products, including a personalised delivery method suited to your customers, and – why not? – utilising local partners and/or specialists.‍

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Expanding internationally is a major decision for e-commerce businesses and represents significant growth potential for your business. Throughout this process, do not hesitate to seek support from specialist partners who are experts in their field; translation and localisation of your content (using TextMaster), logistics, data management and the data model (with Quable’s PIM)… so that you can save a significant amount of time and focus on your core business.