Discover how cross-border e-commerce operates and how Amazon may assist you in overcoming typical obstacles to selling internationally.
What do you mean by Cross-border e-commerce?
The online selling of goods and services to global consumers is known as cross-border e-commerce.
It frequently entails reaching a global audience through digital tactics and enabling them to make purchases, get orders, return items, and obtain customer service online.
What does a cross-border business look like?
Cross-border companies come in a variety of shapes. Here are a few instances:
A US-based office supplies company that ships large quantities of its items to retail establishments in Europe and Asia. A clothes company has an international online store where buyers can purchase products.
Potential difficulties when selling abroad
There are particular factors to take into account when selling to clients in different countries, particularly if you’re sending tangible goods. Typical obstacles to cross-border e-commerce may be:
1. Laws and regulations: National policies and standards about goods and sales techniques can differ. Maintaining compliance with regulations is crucial if you want to be able to sell successfully in the future.
2. Translation into another language: You might need to employ a tactic known as localization to reach clients. To make your website, product listings, or marketing materials appealing to buyers worldwide, you will need to translate the copy and create numerous versions of it.
3. Currency conversion: To make deposits into your domestic bank accounts, you may need to exchange foreign currencies in addition to setting up safe payment processors that accept payments in a variety of currencies. There will probably be costs associated with this.
4. Logistics and shipping: When managing and shipping goods internationally, there can be additional costs and complexity involved. Customs brokers, third-party logistics (3PL) suppliers, and other professionals who can guide you through the complexities and guarantee a seamless flow of goods may be necessary to collaborate with.
5. Taxes and other costs: Depending on the value of the items, the location of the buyers, and other variables, sales tax, import tax, and other forms of taxes may apply. A tax that is unique to a given location is the value-added tax (VAT). Shipping surcharges, additional fees, and import duties—taxes levied by customs authorities on imports and exports—might also need to be taken into account.
Numerous selling programs, e-commerce tools, and other types of support are available to assist you in growing your business by streamlining procedures and identifying solutions. Using the Amazon Service Provider Network is one way to get in touch with professionals who can assist with a variety of tasks, including shipping, customs, taxes, and translation.
Five pointers for expanding your business internationally
1. Investigate various markets
Where are you looking to sell? Is it profitable to expand there? Such inquiries can be answered with the use of research.
Concentrate on a single nation and examine metrics such as GDP and consumer spending patterns. Add these observations to the audience study you have conducted. Do people need the items you sell? How are you going to contact customers? You can use analysis to predict whether your efforts will be worthwhile and how your contributions will be appreciated.
Based on the findings of your investigation, make wise conclusions. In this manner, your cross-border selling strategy, including your e-commerce marketing, can be informed by the results you find.
2. Select the merchandise
If you already have a list of the things you intend to offer, find out if clients in that area would be interested in them. With Seller Central’s Marketplace Product Guidance tool, you can assess product demand worldwide, identify new product opportunities that aren’t in your catalog, and examine performance data for various locations.
For compliance, you may occasionally require specialized testing, certifications, or other kinds of paperwork. See our rules for product limits and safety compliance as a place to start. Once you’ve registered to sell on Amazon, you can examine, file, and arrange the necessary documentation to ensure that your products adhere to Amazon policies and government standards using the Manage Your Compliance dashboard in Seller Central.
Uncertain about what to sell? In Amazon stores worldwide, you can examine Best Sellers lists to see which products might be in demand. If you intend to sell in Japan, for instance, look into the Amazon.co.jp Best Sellers list.
3. Arrange for fulfillment and shipping
Is it feasible to ship orders to consumers in other countries and still turn a profit after handling, shipping, and customs? Examine your fulfillment process from start to finish and make adjustments to cut expenses and prevent unforeseen problems.
Order packaging and storage are the first steps in e-commerce fulfillment. It may be necessary to ship goods via land, air, or sea to consumers. Palletization may also be necessary, based on the volume of inventory you wish to transfer. Optimize your fulfillment process to the final mile to guarantee timely delivery and entice customers with appealing shipping offers.
There are two primary methods available to you if you decide to sell on the Amazon store for shipping goods to customers:
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA): This service allows you to ship products into Amazon’s worldwide fulfillment network while outsourcing the packaging, shipping, returns, and customer support. You may grow your company, save money on operations, and save time with the aid of FBA.
Fulfilled by Merchant: You have the option to employ our package of services, which includes a network of shipping companies that provide special rates, to complete foreign orders on your own. You can obtain pre-negotiated rates using our Amazon Buy Shipping service, which, on average, is more than 31% less expensive than retail ground rates for UPS, FedEx, and USPS.
Specialized Amazon shipping and fulfillment options are particularly advantageous for your company’s international requirements. Here are a few that you should be aware of:
FBA Export: Provide international consumers with access to goods kept in Amazon’s US fulfillment centers. We can process your foreign orders, take care of import taxes and customs clearance, and send the goods to you at no additional cost. By using Pan-European FBA and exporting to fulfillment centers in Europe, we can automatically distribute products throughout the continent at no extra cost to meet client demand.
FBA’s Remote Fulfillment enables cross-border shipping to Canada, Mexico, and Brazil without requiring you to transport inventory to those nations. Customers purchasing products that are suitable for export and are kept in US fulfillment centers are responsible for paying any import tariffs, taxes, or fees. We won’t charge you extra to ship to them. Amazon handles customer queries, returns, refunds, and export logistics for products that qualify for Prime.
Shipping by sea from China to the Amazon fulfillment network in the US, UK, and EU is possible with Amazon Global Logistics (AGL).
FBA is a component of Supply Chain by Amazon, a fully automated suite of supply chain services that may assist you in getting goods to customers, along with AGL.
4. Determine your margins.
Consider your possible costs when determining if selling overseas can make you money. Make sure to account for taxes and duties, as well as any other fees or charges associated with conducting business internationally, in addition to costs associated with product manufacture or procurement, shipping and handling, and customer support.
One such cost can be the cost of receiving payment in your native currency. Examine alternatives such as the Amazon Currency Converter for Sellers if you wish to deposit money straight into your local bank account from overseas purchases. You just pay a single rate with this instrument, which is determined by the total amount of your cross-currency net revenues. Your rate will decrease as your sales volume increases.
To determine your margins, try using free sales estimators. Then, to set and modify price points, use an automated pricing tool such as Automate Pricing in the Amazon brand shop.
5. Produce and enhance the product Amazon listings
Customers from all over the world can locate your products through online listings. Products can be listed in our US store by either building new pages or matching deals to already-existing product description pages. After that, you can cross-list Amazon stores for other nations by using Seller Central’s Build International Listings feature.
You can use Build International Listings to edit a single listing, and depending on the options you select, it will immediately update in the other Amazon marketplaces where you sell. You may synchronize prices across retailers based on your US prices and pricing rules by using this application, which even adjusts price points in response to swings in currency conversion rates.
In certain situations, the content of product Amazon listings can also be automatically translated using the Build International Listings tool, or you can engage a translator. Create compelling sales content and incorporate keywords into it using search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to boost visibility and make it easier for buyers to find listings in several languages. Contact u-commerce today for more information.
