There may be a few different reasons you are considering exploring new territories for your Amazon business. It could be that you are wanting to expand into other countries, or it could be that your business would benefit from having a firm footing on certain shores.
Whatever your reason, you are going to need to consider how you go about getting your business there and making the right impression on your potential customers when you get there.
1. Decide Which Markets to Move Into
As Amazon has fulfillment units in over 15 different countries around the globe, this means that you have a huge number of potential customers waiting for your products. Of course, you can already sell to these customers, but you will be paying a lot in shipping fees, and your customers will have to wait a long while for their products to turn up.
As Amazon has made online shopping an almost instant affair by offering next-day prime deliveries, expecting your new customers to wait possibly weeks for their items to turn up just isn’t going to happen. So, with this in mind, you may want to limit your selection to those countries that already have Amazon fulfillment centers in them.
2. Research New Products for the New Area
Now that you have worked through your short list of countries and selected the perfect one, you will have to think about the new product you will launch in that country. This will take careful research as different cultures and regions have different preferences with regard to both desirable and necessary products.
Of course, you want to supply products that sell well but will provide you with a decent profit margin, but there are also some additional costs, such as shipping, that you must consider. These include the size, weight, and fragility of the items you chose to sell. Larger items or heavy items will cost more to ship and, in some cases, more to store. However, fragile items will cost more in packaging to ensure they do not get damaged on their journey to your new fulfillment center or your potential customer’s location.
3. Get Expert Help in Setting Up Your Stores
Of course, when you come to set up your new store, you should seek the help of an Amazon expert. Expert help such as that which is offered by nuancedmedia.com create Amazon stores over multiple niches and will therefore be able to assist you with FBA (fulfillment by Amazon) throughout America and possibly in other countries around the world.
Of course, when moving into countries that do not have the same language or dialogue as the one you are currently operating in, you will need some translation services so that your listings can be read and understood by those potential customers you are targeting. Getting the wording even slightly wrong could cause offense or change the meaning of what you are trying to say. So, rather than try well know online interpreting services, you should look to hire the services of a human bi-lingual speaker with the correct language abilities to check through your literature before going live.
4. Examine Your Logistical Structure
As mentioned before, you will need to get your stock to your new FBA sites. Of course, your first point of call should be your usual shipping company, and this is mainly because you know them, and they know you. This means that as you have built up a relationship with them, your business will already mean a lot to them, and you know what to expect from their services.
However, if they cannot fulfill all your shipping needs, you may need to introduce another shipping company to complete the transaction. It could be, for instance, that your usual shipping company takes your products to the port, and another shipping business collects it from the port in another country and takes it to the fulfillment site.
5. Set Up International Customer Support
You may well need additional customer support in your new selling territory. This would be to answer questions raised on your social media profiles or your business website, as well as via your Amazon sales. Having customers phone an international number will not make them happy due to costs, and it will not sit well with employees as it will require out-of-hours work. So, it makes sense to have customer service employees in the countries that you are serving.
Hiring remote workers for this task who reside in the right countries is ideal as they will more likely be fluent in the language that your customers speak and will therefore provide a better customer experience and satisfaction than those that are based in other countries.
So, a Few Final Thoughts
So, although there may be a few reasons why you want to expand your Amazon business to other shores, the considerations that you will need to make will be exactly the same. With a wide variety of countries worldwide that have FBA facilities, it makes sense to choose from one of these locations to lessen the time that your new potential customers have to wait for their items to be delivered.
Markets differ from country to country and, in some cases, between regions, so you will have to ensure that there is a market for the goods you are considering selling. You will also have to make sure that your target market can read and understand the listings you are placing. Different countries (including English-speaking ones) have different meanings to words that are either the same or similar, so in order not to cause offense and to ensure your listings look professional, you should have your listings proofread by someone that speaks the right language and dialect.
Of course, to get your Amazon business flying high and making profits as quickly as possible, you should also enlist the help of professional Amazon marketing strategists to help you create your new store and advise you on how you can improve your business within the new Amazon platform.
