BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT: Consider These Tips Before Selling Beyond Borders

By  //  May 21, 2018

Where Do Your Customers Live?

You’ve established your business locally and/or nationally and want to set your sights on global expansion. It’s an ambitious idea, and if you work in the technology arena, it’s an important goal. But is it wise for you, right now? Below are a few important questions to ask yourself about your business if you want to reach beyond borders.

You’ve established your business locally and/or nationally and want to set your sights on global expansion. It’s an ambitious idea, and if you work in the technology arena, it’s an important goal. But is it wise for you, right now? Here are a few important questions to ask yourself about your business if you want to reach beyond borders.

Who Are Your Customers?

You already have a good idea about this from your current local base. You’ll want to collect the demographic statistics of who buys your products or services and seek out similar countries. Consider secondary factors that come into play, like a recent or forthcoming rise in disposable income for the middle class, or current youth trends – AKA the people who will be increasingly buying from you in the next few years.

Where Do Your Customers Live?

The next question to consider is whether the population and culture of a country is a good market for your goods. If you’re a value-added reseller of hardware, let’s say laptops, it wouldn’t be wise to sell your goods to a country with inferior wireless systems or where the tariffs have been raised on importing computing technology.

Be sure you will have a solid customer base by conducting market research and accessing reliable and valid intel relating to your goods or services already available from third parties. Perhaps you’re offering something new to that country; employ experts to design surveys that ascertain not only potential interest but also considers cultural differences and recent economic factors. It’s also wise to take local currency and exchange rates into account.

How To Ship Efficiently?

Proximity is a basic concern at the top of your list. You might have a favorite national courier, as well. Shipping technology internationally is highly regulated, and packages often get stuck in customs, frustrating both seller and even more so their clients.

Learning the rules and procedures around taxes, permits, licensing, and local laws can be a chaotic set of challenges. Even packaging standards is a seemingly insignificant hiccup that can slow you down. You’ll want to partner with an Importer of Record who can be a single point of contact if you need help importing IT equipment internationally.

An experienced company like TecEx is an IOR, offers tax recovery services, and offers the best lead times in the business. They assume all the risks associated with sending your IT equipment overseas and take care of the paperwork and paying the proper costs, fees, and associated taxes. Because they’re also a tax recovery service, TecEx can secure refunds for indirect taxes incurred in foreign countries, including import VAT, co-location taxes, customs duty, and taxes on local purchases.

It’s easy to get an online quote instantly that requires very little information on your part. They have experience and reach in 160 countries, so you’re covered wherever you think you’d like to expand.

Other considerations will pop up as you collect research and start to make decisions. Be sure to consider cultural, social, and economic factors of the nation you’re considering. Make wise partnerships with experts who can offer seamless shipping experiences and satisfy your new foreign clients.

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