The time for selling globally is now. But what should you consider when you want to sell cross-border?
Los Angeles-based ecommerce startup Tech Armor was faced with that question almost immediately after it was founded in 2012.
[The 2015 Growing Global conference for cross-border selling will be held July 21-22 at the Loews Hollywood Hotel. Click here for more information, and to register.]
And Tech Armor, which sells its own brand of mobile screen protectors, cases, and accessories, figured cross-border ecommerce out right away. Though Tech Armor was attracting customers from all around the globe, the company knew if it didn’t work on marketing to customers in specific countries and regions, it could lose that international customer base.
“There’s a lot of different steps, and we’ve learned the hard way as well,” said Eric Tong, Co-founder and General Manager Tech Armor, during this video interview with Multichannel Merchant at IRCE 2015. “But we’ve kind of got off to a good start. We’re doing pretty well in Canada and in the U.K., and some of the other European markets as well.”
There’s a lot of things to do before you get into a new market, including things like setting up a value-added tax (which is most-often needed in the European Union), getting registered in-country so you can import, to translations.
And by translations, Tong means making sure Tech Armor doesn’t simply translate from English to a foreign language, but really understanding the nuances of a particular international country and culture.
Another thing Tech Armor is doing to attract cross-border customers is selling in ecommerce marketplaces. Tech Armor sells via such ecommerce marketplaces partners as Amazon, Rakuten, eBay, and Newegg.
And Tech Armor is also geared up for Prime Day, Amazon’s newly-created global selling holiday, on July 15.
Joseph Jaconi, Tech Armor’s Co-Founder and General Manager, said the company will be selling heavily discounted products on Amazon globally that say.
“Not just Amazon.com, but also Amazon in the U.K., Canada, Italy, Japan, Spain, Germany and France,” said Jaconi. “This is an exciting event and you need to sell on Amazon to participate.”
On July 22 at Growing Global 2015 in Hollywood, CA, Tong and business partner Joseph Jaconi will present a session about Tech Armor’s global journey.
Tong and Jaconi will discuss how Tech Armor Join us and learn how Tech Armor markets the brand to cross-border consumers, provides customer service and support from a global perspective, handles global logistics challenges, and deals with operational and financial hurdles.
In this video, Tech Armor’s Tong discusses how the company determines new global markets to sell in.