Philip Rooke (pictured) has advice on, and personal experience of, expanding internationally.
As the CEO of an e-commerce merchandising platform, I am tasked with scaling-up our company globally. We are already active in 19 countries, 12 languages, and our customers can pay in 11 currencies. This year, we are in the full roll-out phase of our marketing, sales and operations strategy outside Europe and the USA. And we now deliver to approximately 200 countries from Brazil to Singapore.
With the world of retail, technology and delivery to global consumers moving so fast, online retailers need more than just inspiring customer experiences, great sales figures and a savvy marketing plan. All the successes generated by launching in new countries can be rapidly jeopardised with a poor delivery and supply chain. Without establishing a solid plan and network you might as well have thrown away the money spent on expanding.
So how does an online retailer in rapid global scale-up mode embrace these business realities? My top three areas of focus are:
1. Get your product to the consumer
Shipping is a vital component in the supply chain and it must be fast, reliable and priced right. This year we added delivery to more than150 new countries. Within weeks, we had to delist 10 countries due to fraud and delivery problems. However, there were some nice surprises within the mix. Some countries even with small populations, such as Bermuda, Guadeloupe and French Polynesia, are doing very well. Other countries had good sales, but have had to be paused until delivery issues are sorted out. Spend time getting this right.
2. Check on the local tax and business rules
This is where partnering can sometimes be a better bet than organic growth; you take on a business which already has all the right permits and understands how to do business in the region. For example, in the USA there are tax variations between the States, which need to be taken into account, along with the tax issues surrounding cross-border sales. If a customised T-shirt is sold by a YouTuber in New York and shipped to Brazil, but the transaction happens in Berlin, where is the tax paid? These are issues an international e-commerce company must be on top of. Spreadshirt is not only an online retailer, but we also provide a platform for other e-sellers, so this is especially key for us; it’s our job to make this a smooth and efficient process. No-one wants to get bogged down in tax issues when they’re creating and selling their ideas. Customers receiving an extra bill will hate you!
3. Plan to get on the ground
Many of our key sellers build a fan base on global social platforms such as YouTube and Facebook – making demand for their products truly international. We see huge traffic coming from countries like India and Brazil, meaning that eventually shipping will not be enough to satisfy consumer expectations. We’ve therefore just acquired a partner in Brazil and are looking at India, Turkey and other countries, to reduce the shipping time. A demand driven approach from traffic or shipped orders always governs our next steps.
Whether a customer is from one of your core regions or from a new market, you have to manage their delivery expectations and value. We intentionally locate production facilities in strategic locations to keep customers satisfied and meet their expectations and demands. For example, in the USA, our Las Vegas facility reduces a day in delivery time to the west coast compared to shipping from our east coast site. It is also ideally located for rapid and cost-effective distribution to Asia and Australia. Orders get to customers in Australia only two days after California for only $1 or $2 more.
The world is a great place to do business and in our experience more valuable orders were gained than lost due to problems. Glitches can be easily sorted out by switching off certain payment types, changing a shipping provider or turning off a whole country.
This approach is working so far: the addition of 150 new shipping countries puts us on par with retailers such as H&M and Zara and far ahead of most other custom apparel and accessory retailers. The process of going truly global has been a positive move and the outlook for the rest of the year is extremely optimistic. Each week, several hundreds of additional orders are coming from our newly listed shipping countries.
For Spreadshirt, the goal is to continue global expansion via acquisition, access, and strong international partnerships with an eye towards local production hubs. We go global while being local. Unlike traditional retailers, we are not restricted by supply chains and stock holding so I envisage an online retail future where everyone wherever they are in the world can create, buy and sell ideas on merchandising, in the language and currency of their choice and never be more than a few days away from receiving it.
Philip Rooke is CEO of Spreadshirt.
