A Retailers How to Guide for International Expansion

Recent reports have spoken favourably to the benefits of globalisation, providing insight into WHY Australian retailers should be embracing a borderless marketplace.

In January, Deloitte released the 2017 Global Powers of Retailing Report highlighting the largest 250 retailers in the world. The list which determines a retailers ranking based on an analysis of their performance across geographies, sectors and channels listed 39 Australian retailers, whilst US-based retailers accounted for nearly 50% of the total. The report also highlighted that more Australian brands are expanding internationally, with Asia-Pacific being of a particular focus.

Given the expansive growth in markets such as China and South Korea, coupled with key retail events including Singles’ Day (11.11) and Double 12, it’s not surprising that more and more Australian retailers are choosing expansion into Asia as a means to propel their brands across the global stage.

Throughout 2017 Deloitte expects this to continue to grow, and whilst there is a plethora of information out there justifying the WHY, there is little information explaining the HOW. With more retailers exploring international opportunities, I’ve decided to explore the HOW and provide a list of things to consider before jetting overseas.

Test the waters through performance marketing: 

The best thing about performance marketing is that brands pay for marketing costs based purely on a performance basis. Given that major concerns for many retailers looking to venture into a new market include overhead and risk, leveraging your performance marketing channels alleviates these.

Let’s look specifically at affiliate marketing. The Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA) model used in affiliate marketing significantly reduces the financial risk as retailers are only paying when a sale is made. To add to this, the publishers you work with immediately become part of your brand, reaching the local audience and providing you with knowledge that can help shorten the learning curve.

Carefully select your partners:

Entering a new market can be unnerving for any business, however, the right partner can help make this decision less daunting and guide you to success. By identifying and partnering with key players in market, you will quickly receive feedback into how your brand is being perceived, performance, strategic advice and market insights.

When using affiliate marketing to trial a new market, it is your publishers who become fundamental to ensuring the success of your brand. Loyalty and reward programs, cashback and content are among the most popular publisher models throughout Asia and will become a key component of your expansion plan, particularly when creating brand awareness.

Try something new:

In order to be truly successful in a new market, a brand must be willing to be flexible as it may be a case of what works in Australia, doesn’t work in China or Korea.

As mentioned above, cashback publishers perform exceptionally well with Asian consumers and are a key factor in generating brand awareness. Working with this publisher model across Asia is pivotal for success and can be a great way to try something new if your brand doesn’t currently work with cashback affiliates.

Similarly, we know that Korean consumers respond exceptionally well to content. On top of the CPA paid for sales referred, gifting a blogger/influencer with your latest collection or items on sales can have substantial growth impacts and help boost your influencer campaigns.

Don’t worry about shipping:

If you’re reading this thinking the above sounds great, but it what happens when it comes time to shipping? Don’t worry, there is a solution for that!

Freight Forwarding is a great work-around for shipping dilemmas, and the best thing is the consumer takes care of it all. Consumers within Asia are exceptionally savvy and will often offset the additional costs of using a freight forwarding supplier by shopping through a cashback site.

This also allows retailers the opportunity to gather select data and information into consumer patterns, which can then be used to establish a more permanent international shipping system once your brand is establish and performing successfully in a new market.

Determining if going global is right for your brand:

Now you have all the information regarding the WHY and HOW a brand should and can expand internationally, it’s time to determine if international expansion is the right move.

The best way to reach this decision is through investigating where your site traffic is coming from and examining the volume of traffic coming from each market. And whilst, international expansion won’t be for everyone, exploring this data may surprise you.

Is your brand ready to take on the world? Find out how Rakuten Marketing can help at rm-salesapac@mail.rakuten.com or visit www.rakutenmarketing.com.au