Help and advice to other online retailers wanting to ship and market products abroad from those who are doing it.<\/p>\n
Sector:<\/strong> Fashion<\/p>\n Topic:<\/strong> Advice and resources for online retailers who are taking their first tentative steps of shipping and marketing their products abroad. We would like to thank the following people for taking time out to answer some questions in order to help other online retailers start to look beyond their own back yard. The questions we asked our Online Retailers Click here to go to see the complete responses at the end of this article<\/a> also see our faqs<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fashion has a global following, what is hot in New York, is probably hot in Australia and is probably hot in the UK and EU and so on, in other words, what starts off as a fashion trend in one country will end up being sold around the world. Clothing after all is one of the few things in life that everyone has to buy.<\/p>\n Most of the online retailers we interviewed agreed that there are no major differences between the consumer buying habits at home or from abroad and any differences spotted are just subtle ones, for example consumer seasonal buying, a coat will still sell in the consumers Autumn\/Winter season but things like skinny jeans that has no seasonal influences will still sell all year round.<\/p>\n Order fulfillment, shipping costs for the consumer and for distribution were also one of earlier contributors for not offering consumer products abroad.<\/p>\n Most agreed that it\u2019s a lot easier to not only ship products abroad but marketing has become less problematic too.<\/p>\n Reaching new customers abroad has never been easier now that search engines have become so advanced and since the emergence of social networks and mobile marketing just waiting in the wings as a form of advertising. Consumers can browse products around the world from the comfort of their own home\/work\/college hours. \u00a0Global browsing should mean global ecommerce so what could be deterring some online retailers from jumping across the fence to see what\u2019s on the other side and what deters the consumer from buying abroad. We have used the fashion sector by way of an example.<\/p>\n We are seeing an increasing number of online retailers shipping their products and or services abroad and this trend will continue to increase. The barriers that prevented online retailers from being able to reach new international customers via the internet, I am sure we will all agree, has receded significantly over the last decade and the last few fences for shipping products abroad are slowly coming down due to the early pioneer\u2019s vision and determination to meet their new foreign customer\u2019s demands for their products. Those that took these cross boarder steps back in the day have already got an edge over their home land competitors and are already forging their name abroad.<\/p>\n Through new, evolving and further reaching technology, education, governments and banking institutions are slowly accommodating and facilitating international trade. \u00a0Any online retailer can now ship their products around the world. Most of the online retailers we interviewed agreed that shipping costs was and in some cases still is one of the last few fences that could be a deterrent for not only other online retailers trying to make the jump from a business to business perspective but also could be a deterrent for the consumer at the point of purchase. I am sure most would agree that the cost of international shipping has to come down. Until the prices of international shipping come down there will be a high price to pay and for the most part this cost is passed on to the consumer.<\/p>\n Yet, \u00a0Australia\u2019s leader in the Plus Size Fashion Sector, Phil Ryan, owner of Specialty Fashion Group, offers free shipping and free returns to his customers in the USA CityChicOnline.com<\/a>, how is this possible? Phil Ryan is from that school of thought that there is more value in acquiring a new customer and looks at the repeat order value that each new customer could potentially bring in, his marketing methods focus on not just acquiring a new customer but the retention is just as important. He believes so much in his own product and customer services that he wants his customers to feel the quality, wear the clothes and then they will come back to buy more and they do. Phil Ryan is prepared to waiver shipping costs and compromises his margins to make sure that his potential customer has no barriers to purchasing. So successful is his approach that sales in the USA is up month on month and another brand is about to be born and his eyes are fixed firmly on other territories, evidence that his customers are loyal to the brand. So what was Phil Ryan\u2019s main barrier when he first started shipping products to the US?\u00a0 \u201cThe main issue is duties and taxation laws unless you ship from within the USA, customer on a parcel by parcel basis is very hard. You need to set up distribution in the USA for it to work\u201d.<\/p>\n Why can shipping a product be so high? Often is the case that it\u2019s the online retailers existing postal carrier who sets the price based on the more volume of goods shipped abroad the less costly it becomes, the less weight the less it costs. In the absence of volume and cutting into margins there may not seem to be any alternative for the online retailer other than passing the cost onto the consumer, who ends up with a take it or leave it situation. We know most online retailers wish for more international customers and for further brand reach but many maybe giving up at the first hurdle by measuring the existing number of international orders that come in. An assumption that could be being made by the online retailer is that there is no need to invest in research, technology or marketing\/shipping\/margin compromise and the foundation for this assumption may be measured based on how many orders are received from abroad and from which countries. Too few orders and the incentive to explore alternative shipping options and implement currency convertors may not be justified for further research and the online business operates within its own comfort zone, such was the view of Pat Wood of TruffleShuffle.co.uk \u201c\u2026I marketed to foreign buyers with a non-optimised site. They converted badly and I\u2019ve never bothered \u201cwasting\u201d marketing budget since. If I had a website that did a\u00a0 better job at converting foreign customers in the first place, then my marketing budget would go further and I\u2019d be selling more product \u2013 chicken and egg \u2013 and I got it the wrong way round. I suppose my brief to myself was \u201cif these foreign people buy, then we\u2019ll concentrate on making the site more foreign-friendly\u201d but seeing as the buyers never came, neither did the improvements!<\/em> Since speaking to Pat Wood he is now prepared to revisit international waters and plans are afoot to bring his brands to the USA.<\/p>\n If online retailers don\u2019t go the extra mile and try to facilitate international customers, then naturally, the orders would be few and far between, it stands to reason. A simple solution for fashion online retailers to facilitate international sales would be to make small adjustments to their website and shopping cart. Example: adding a page entitled \u201cInternational orders, international sizing and shipping\u201d A currency converter at check out (opens up in a new window). A good indication of how many international customers came to your site and left without buying would be to look at your analytics, regardless of how good or bad they are, even bad website analytics can give you some clue.<\/p>\n Shipping costs does seem to be the main barrier for consumers purchasing from abroad, but curiously enough, the time it takes to ship a product from the consumer\u2019s perspective is seldom an issue, if the demand is there. Did you know that a parcel can take up to five working days from New York to California? If the consumer is informed about the shipping time, that\u2019s all they need to know to make an informed decision. The good news for online retailers as that the issue of the price of international shipping, distribution, currency converting and international taxation does not have to be an impenetrable wall but only if online merchants who want their wish to come true and ship abroad and are willing to do their research, crunch those numbers and throw in a bit of compromise, after all who wouldn\u2019t want more customers, more reach and ultimately more sales?<\/p>\n Dale Masters and Phil Ryan both use a distribution and order Fulfillment company; this too was the main obstacle Boukjen de Swaan Arrons of IsabellaOliver.com which they had to overcome \u201cUnderstanding the logistical flow to ensure the customer received a service she expected.\u201d<\/p>\n So what are the pros and cons of having a distribution center versus shipping on a parcel by parcel basis from the originating country? Firstly we need to distinguish between direct distributions (order fulfillment), this is shipping the product direct to the consumer and distribution centers. The distribution center is where the online retailer ships their products abroad in bulk for processing and dispatch to either another order fulfillment company or in some cases distribution centers have their own in-house order fulfillment services combined with customer care services or just simply out sourcing. Some online retailers prefer to ship orders directly from within their existing distribution facilities within their own country on a parcel by parcel basis, most non domestic online retailer use this method as a means to either test the waters before investing in oversees distribution and or does not have the budget for outsourcing. The other deterring factor may also be its not so much about what you know but who do you speak to, it\u2019s scary to be in unfamiliar territory.<\/p>\n Dale Masters and Phil Ryan both Australian have already gone through the initial research stage and decided there was enough data to warrant entering into the US and UK Market using a distribution company and both have been here in the US for over a year and both offer free shipping. For the online retailers who have a very small budget, even using the more costly outsourced distribution route is possible using a non-compete piggyback approach. If you are from outside of the USA, there are US Apparel Companies that already has a warehouse and already has the order fulfillment in place and their own customer service set up, the non US online retailer could rent their space and service. The cost for shipping products is now reduced as the non US Retailer can ship their products in bulk meaning lower bulk shipping costs, the consumer pays less postage and the worry of customer care visa vis the time differences is reduced too.<\/p>\n The shipping parcel by parcel approach is the ideal solution for the hesitant online retailer to ship products abroad but should only be used if they can compromise. What do we mean by compromise? We used the example of CityChicOnline.com and AtticusClothing.com offering free shipping. Both companies were prepared to compromise on shipping by wavering it. If some online retailers find this too risky then the other option is to compromise by absorbing some of the postal costs by x amount to bring it closer inline to similar standard shipping charges of the country where the product is going to.<\/p>\n If marketing abroad and not understanding local customs or languages is another barrier that is still preventing online retailers from taking the international plunge then I can assure you, without making a dent in your budget or margins, all online fashion retailers can enter new countries right now! The assumption that consumers are not smart enough and have to be hand held every step of the way of the purchasing experience becomes less valid as online shoppers become more experienced at purchasing due to the dreadful check out experiences that they have had to endure in the past. A quick test for you to show you what I mean, for those that don\u2019t understand German I want you to find and add your size jeans to the basket and try to check out http:\/\/www.guna.de\/jeans.htm<\/a> (I randomly selected this company; we have no affiliation with them). They don\u2019t offer shipping to outside of Europe but they could if they wanted to. So how many of you found it relatively easy? Jeans in English is the same in Germany is the same all over the world, I reiterate fashion is fashion and is global and when you have gone through one bad check out experience after another and learned from it then any average to good check out process and all in a foreign languages can be negotiated as most check outs are standard, registration, email, shipping, credit card billing and so on. A way for online retailers to address the language barrier at check out could come in the form of using pictures or symbols. Different sizing charts for US, EU, UK, AU etc.. is standard now and the clever online retailer will already have their multi sizing charts in place and which we all understand. Another site that we could look at is SkinnyJeans.com, if you go to www.Google.de<\/a> and type in Skinny Jeans, the company skinnyjeans.com<\/a> comes up as number three.<\/p>\n Technology in terms of intelligent ecommerce shopping carts is still coming on leaps and bounds and you just have to visit some of the well known ecommerce shopping cart forums to find out just how clever they have become in terms of reporting and functionality not to mention well thought through data capture, order fulfillment and tracking as well as scalability. Most now come with a currency convertor module that you just plug in; clever ecommerce website can now identify first time customers and have the capability of using stored data to assist with marketing initiatives as well. X-Cart<\/a> is a good example of a company that can evolve to meet their consumer\u2019s demands whilst still keeping up with the latest technology and trends and to get a feel for their platform and plug-ins have a look at the X-Cart forum<\/a>, its buzzing and its free to join.<\/p>\n Marketing abroad is more down to \u201cwho you know\u201d as the \u201cwhat you know\u201d is an unknown variable in the beginning, linkedin.com<\/a> is great for business networking and we have, over the years, discovered some real gems amongst the \u201cexperts\u201d. Marketing on a budget or testing the waters abroad. Who would have thought that Affiliate Marketing<\/a> would be the most cost effective way of measuring how well your products will sell abroad? We did many years ago but we were faced with the same barriers that online retailers faced, yet the affiliates\/ publishers were already one step ahead. We have always promoted affiliate marketing as the perfect way to promote fashion and other products abroad. Affiliate marketing is not insular; it\u2019s truly global just like Google\u2019s international pay per click options difference being is that Affiliate Marketing is the only form of online marketing that most online retailers can get on a budget and that facilitates global e-commerce. Affiliate Marketing does not have the constraints of domestic traffic aggregation. Affiliates\/Publishers \u00a0optimize their sites to funnel international traffic to relevant pages. Some affiliates join multiple affiliate networks in multiple countries (see Affiliate Census<\/a>) and affiliate networks have accommodated the international affiliate by paying them in their own currency. The amazing part about it all is that it\u2019s still the only marketing channel whereby the online retailer only ever pays on results.<\/p>\n Below is a rough costing for entering foreign countries in order of budget and marketing. For Budgets under 4k per month<\/em><\/strong> For Budget of 6k per month.<\/em><\/strong> For under 6k per month, you now have what we feel is the three most important marketing channels that will yield results. I am assuming that most online retailers have facebook.com presence already and if you haven\u2019t already notices pintrest.com<\/a> is on the up. \u00a0For the dedicated followers of fashion, you may also want to look at a new comer MyFDB<\/a><\/p>\n The determination for some online retailers to find and fix the problems that prevents an international sale from taking place can be summed up by Pat Wood of <\/em>TruffleShuffle.co.uk \u201cI think the main obstacles have been shipping cost, currency converting and customer service. We\u2019ve always found currency converting a nightmare, but hopefully have a great fix for this coming in the next few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0Check list before entering international waters<\/strong> Logistics : Shop around for international shipping prices, remember there are choices and there is competition and maybe you will have to look at using two carriers, one for domestic shipping and another for international. If you want to look at distribution centers and fulfillment then again, shop around or drop us a line, we may be able to help you or put you in contact with reputable companies.<\/p>\n Tax: If you don\u2019t already understand how to work with international tax, then have a look at the following docs. Tax will vary country by country, your accountant will know what you have to pay and to whom, after all that\u2019s there headache not yours. If you don\u2019t have an accountant, then contact your local tax office. The following websites maybe of some use to you.<\/p>\n E retail and Logistics forum<\/a> this is a group on LinkedIn.com Step two:<\/strong> Website readiness Step three:<\/strong> Testing the waters<\/p>\n If you already have step one and two then you are ready for an affiliate program. Step four:<\/strong> Expansion. We are excited to welcome our newest non US client TruffleShuffle.co.uk we will be working with them in order to ease their way into the US Market via the affiliate marketing route. TruffleShuffle.co.uk originates in the UK and they specialize in fashion from the Movies, TV, Comics and all iconic apparel and accessories.<\/p>\n We are delighted to welcome Autographfashion.com.au and we will be setting up and managing their affiliate program in Australia. You may be familiar with their sister site CityChicOnline.com<\/a> who entered the US market a year ago.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Responses \u201c<\/em>CALCULATING SHIPPING COSTS ACCURATELY ACROSS THE OPTIONS – USPS V’S FEDEX\/UPS ETC\u201d <\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> What marketing do you use abroad, example Affiliate ,PR, Mailing lists, Social Networks?<\/p>\n Phil Ryan of Specialty Fashion Group: Baukjen de Swann Arons of IsabellaOliver.com : 3.<\/strong> Are there any real differences between the customer buying habits at home and your customers from abroad, if so what?<\/p>\n Phil Ryan of Specialty Fashion Group: <\/p>\n Pat Wood of TruffleShuffle.co.uk : 5.<\/strong> If you had just one bit of advice for other online retailers shipping their products abroad, what would it be?<\/p>\n Phil Ryan Specialty Fashion Group :<\/strong> Pat Wood of TruffleShuffle.co.uk :<\/strong> Baukjen de Swaan Arons, Founder, Design & Creative Director of IsabellaOliver.com and 365 Brand :<\/strong> FAQs<\/strong> Question: Can I use my own existing postal company to ship products abroad?<\/strong> Question: How do I install a currency convertor?<\/strong> Question: I have an affiliate program already, do I need to set one up in the country I want to ship to?<\/strong> Question: How long does it take to set up an affiliate program and how long will it take before I start seeing sales come in?<\/strong> If you have any more questions drop us a line and we would be happy to answer them.<\/p>\n About The Noise Farm Inc<\/a> and AffiliateProgramAdvice.com<\/a> For more information about this article or any questions about what we offer or any advice, contact Jessica Luthi-Hertl CEO TheNoiseFarmInc.com & Affiliate Program Advice.com please quote ref TNFAPA4 Most of the online retailers we interviewed agreed that there are no major differences between the consumer buying habits at home or from abroad and any differences spotted are just subtle ones, for example consumer seasonal buying, a coat will still sell in the consumers Autumn\/Winter season but things like skinny jeans that has no seasonal influences will still sell all year round. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,1],"tags":[584,1051,955,1054,1055,1052,1053,1050],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4909"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4909"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4911,"href":"https:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4909\/revisions\/4911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPhil Ryan of Specialty Fashion Group<\/a>
\nDale Masters of Plus Brands Ltd<\/a>
\nBaukjen Swaan de Arron, Founder, Design & Creative Director at IsabellaOliver.com<\/a> and 365 Brand.
\nPat Wood of TruffleShuffle.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n
\n1.<\/strong> What was the main obstacle you had to overcome when shipping products abroad?
\n2.<\/strong> What marketing do you use abroad, example Affiliate Marketing ,PR, Mailing lists, Social \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Networks?
\n3.<\/strong> Are there any real differences between the customer buying habits at home and your \u00a0\u00a0customers from abroad, if so what?
\n4.<\/strong> How far has your marketing initiatives abroad reached your expectations.
\n5.<\/strong> If you had just one bit of advice for other online retailers shipping their products abroad, what would it be?<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>
\nFor budgets under 1k per month<\/em>
\nYou can set up an affiliate program up and running for as little as $300.00 US, 500 GBP, 400 EU, 500 AU affiliate network one time set up cost. If you don\u2019t know anything about setting up and managing an affiliate program abroad, we specialize in setting up and managing affiliate programs and our cost is included in the under 1k per month budget. Affiliates are experts at Pay Per Click and bloggers offer unique content that will assist your search engine visibility, directly and indirectly.<\/p>\n
\nIn order to increase your brand and sell products abroad, the next marketing channel you will want is a PR agency that can support celebrity endorsements, celebrity gifting, focuses on editorial and has far reaching contacts within your sector. 3.5k per month in the US will buy you PR that spans from NY to LA and everything in-between. Now you have an affiliate program and a good PR agency as both will compliment each other.<\/p>\n
\nLead generation is big business where ever you go and companies like BallardDirect.com for entering the US space would be the third thing on my to do list. Lead generation businesses have had a hit and miss reputation in the past but companies like BallardDirect.com<\/a> that come with recommendations and endorsements are worth their weight in gold. Companies like this are hard to find amongst the myriad of \u201cexperts\u201d out there. When trying to find a lead generation company, always talk to their clients first. If the company does not have a client list on the website then probably its worth moving on.<\/p>\n
\nStep one:<\/strong> Logistics and Tax<\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.smallbusinessforums.org<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.small-business-forum.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n
\nAll you need is a currency convertor, a good international sizing chart, a page dedicated to international orders that include approximate time lines for delivery and shipping cost and return policy.<\/p>\n
\nIt truly is the ultimate in litmus testing, it\u2019s affordable and rewarding and will give you a plethora of new information that you would not have otherwise gotten unless you had taken the plunge but ultimately you gain new customers, new sales and increased brand recognition.<\/p>\n
\nOnce you have decided that there is a market for your products, PR and Lead generation would be next as well as looking at companies that can distribute and offer order fulfillment with customer services.<\/p>\n
\nThe questions we asked a few of our clients past and present.
\n1. What was the main obstacle you had to overcome when shipping products abroad?
\n<\/em><\/strong>
\nPhil Ryan of Specialty Fashion Group :<\/strong>
\n\u201cThe main issue is duties and taxation laws unless you ship from within the USA, customer on a parcel by parcel basis is very hard. You need to set up distribution in the USA for it to work \u201c
\n<\/em>
\nDale Masters of AtticusClothing.com:<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n<\/em>
\nPat Wood of TruffleShuffle.co.uk:<\/strong>
\n\u201c<\/em>I think the main obstacles have been shipping cost, currency converting and customer service. The biggest market we\u2019d like to be in would be the USA, but exchange rates and shipping prices mean that it\u2019s very difficult to export \u00a320 t-shirts with \u00a38 shipping to the USA \u2013 i.e. a USA consumer is having to pay $45 for one t-shirt \u2013 double what they\u2019d pay for a decent t-shirt at local retail prices. We\u2019ve always found currency converting a nightmare, but hopefully have a great fix for this coming in the next few weeks.\u201d
\n<\/em>
\n<\/strong>Baukjen de Swaan Arons, Founder, Design & Creative Director of IsabellaOliver.com & 365 Brand :<\/strong>
\n\u201c<\/em><\/strong>Understanding the logistical flow to ensure the customer received a service she expected.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>\u201cAffiliate Marketing, Social Networks and Email\u201d
\n<\/em>
\nDale Masters of AtticusClothing.com:
\n<\/strong>\u201c<\/em>AFFILIATE, EMAIL LIST, FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM\u201d.
\n<\/em>
\nPat Wood of TruffleShuffle.co.uk:
\n<\/strong>\u201cWe have traditionally stuck to PPC marketing for targeting foreign users in Europe and have embarked upon a US focused PPC campaign recently, but with the above mentioned conversion issues, it\u2019s always going to make any marketing campaign seem a lot less fruitful than performing the same campaign locally.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>\u201cIt varies per market but the key elements are digital marketing, weekly email campaigns, social media and PR\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>\u201cNo real significant differences\u201d.
\n<\/em>
\nDale Masters of AtticusClothing.com:
\n<\/strong>\u201c<\/em>SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE & ITS OPPOSITE SEASONS RESTRICTS GLOBAL SELLING. BASIC ITEMS LIKE T-SHIRTS ARE NOW TEAR-ROUND SELLERS.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>\u201cMy foreign customer numbers are so small, it\u2019s very difficult to segment. Apart from the obvious poor conversion rates, it\u2019s hard to tell.\u201d
\n<\/em>
\nBaukjen de Swann Arons of IsabellaOliver.com and 365 Brand :
\n<\/strong>\u201cSurprisingly no. We had expected to see differences due to climate differences and other factors but the buying habits are overall the same\u201d.
\n<\/em>
\n4.<\/strong> How far has your marketing initiatives abroad reached your expectations.
\nPhil Ryan of Specialty Fashion Group: <\/strong>
\n\u201cEnough to look at expanding our brands into other markets.\u201d
\n<\/em>
\nDale Masters of AtticusClothing.com :
\n<\/strong>\u201c<\/em>FLASH SALES\/PROMOTIONS ON FACEBOOK HAVE BEEN VERY WELL RECEIVED, THE AFFILIATE PROGRAM IS DOING WELL TOO\u201d
\n<\/em>
\nPat Wood of TruffleShuffle.co.uk : <\/strong>
\n\u201cAsk me in a few weeks and I\u2019ll tell you if the Noise Farm is any good <\/em>J<\/em> \u201c<\/em>
\nBaukjen de Swaan Arons, Founder, Design & Creative Director of IsabellaOliver.com and 356 Brand : <\/strong>
\n\u201cWe now have 7 years of experience with selling abroad and have developed deeper understandings of the markets. Our expectations for each are now better fine-tuned to the experience we have gathered.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u201c<\/em>You need to set up distribution in the USA for it to work \u201c<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u201cMake sure you get your plan in place in the right order. I marketed to foreign buyers with a non-optimised site. They converted badly and I\u2019ve never bothered \u201cwasting\u201d marketing budget since. If I had a website that did a\u00a0 better job at converting foreign customers in the first place, then my marketing budget would go further and I\u2019d be selling more product \u2013 chicken and egg \u2013 and I got it the wrong way round. I suppose my brief to myself was \u201cif these foreign people buy, then we\u2019ll concentrate on making the site more foreign-friendly\u201d but seeing as the buyers never came, neither did the improvements! Again, ask me in a few weeks and I\u2019ll let you know if the other way round works!!\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u201cDon\u2019t launch, or at least don\u2019t do it loudly, until you have the operational cycle totally worked out. Test different carriers, shipping prices etc before you launch publicly. When we launched in to the US, we did it quietly for the first 6 months. We used those months to monitor the cycle of dispatch through to returns closely and once we felt we had the best proposition, we made the launch public.\u201d<\/em> \u00a0Back to the top<\/a><\/p>\n
\nQuestion: Who<\/strong> should I contact to start looking at order fulfillment in another country?<\/strong>
\nAnswer: Drop us an email or talk to other non compete online retailers that are already shipping their products abroad. Business Social networks like Linkedin.com<\/a> can be a great resource as to is Entrepeneur.com<\/a><\/p>\n
\nAnswer: Absolutely, but remember in the article we talked about compromise, \u00a0compromise can incorporate a myriad of new customer acquisition opportunities. Example, if your cost is $15.00 to ship a t-shirt to the UK, this cost is too high for the consumer. You can either absorb some of the shipping costs, which will affect your margins but now you have acquired a new customer for retention initiatives. \u00a0You could offer \u201cbuy now\u201d at $15 and get free shipping on your next purchase\u201d. \u201cBuy $70.00 and get Free shipping\u201d \u201cFor first time orders, get x product free.\u201d There are so many things you can do without hurting your margins and most of what you can do will be based on what the back end of your ecommerce site can do.<\/p>\n
\nAnswer: First port of call would be to speak to the person who is managing the technical side to your website, they will know or at the very least they can inquire if a third party is involved. For those that manage their own website, there are tools out there like DynamicConverter<\/a><\/p>\n
\nAnswer: This depends on the type of product you are selling, type of affiliate program you presently have and countries where you would like to enter, budget and branding restrictions as well as what you are licensed to sell in which country. Your best bet would be to drop us a line and we will gladly give you some feedback. So the sort answer is, everything is possible.<\/p>\n
\nAnswer: Depending on how fast your technical person can enter a line of code onto the order confirmation page, we can work as fast or as slow depending on your company pace, our clients average a two week turnaround. To start seeing results, it\u2019s immediate in terms of increased targeted traffic to your website. Depending on your website conversions, demand for products the average time for our clients getting sales in ranges from two weeks to six weeks and it only ever increases. The more established your affiliate program the better the results which is why anyone thing about affiliate marketing should be looking at a commitment of at least eighteen months.<\/p>\n
\nWe have been in the business of Affiliate Marketing with specific emphasis within the fashion sector but not limited to this sector. We are originally from the UK and have our main office in California USA. We have written and co produced a number of white papers. Our niche has become assisting online retailers entering into selling and shipping their products abroad, within the B2B and B2C Markets. Territories we cover, USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, UK and Ireland. We are research and your trusted resource for entering foreign countries and we will always work within your margins and budgets.<\/p>\n
\nEmail Jessica at thenoisefarminc.om or Jessica at affiliateprogramadvice.com or contact us via LinkedIn.com http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pub\/jessica-hertl\/2\/a7\/777<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"