6 reasons why your business should offer international shipping in 2020

The option of shipping your products internationally is not one that you should be too quick to dismiss. After all, it gives you so many benefits like a bigger, less saturated market and new chances of expansion. For some, this might be exactly what they were looking for in order to take their business one step further in the right direction. Sure, it comes with its own set of risks and logistical difficulties but it still may be worth your while. For all those who are still sitting on a fence, here are the top six persuasive arguments why your business should offer international shipping in 2020.

Tapping into an international market

A lot of enterprises find that they would be more competitive in the international market, however, pulling this off is not a simple thing. Establishing an office half-a-way across the world is not an easy thing but what comes next can be even more difficult. Managing it, repatriating your profit, paying taxes and running a business from a different continent are all quite difficult and exhausting. Fortunately, by offering international shipping you can tap into an international market without actually having to move or start a branch/subsidiary abroad. This makes your job so much easier from the standpoint of logistics and infrastructure.

Expanding your customer pool

Naturally, one of the most logical reasons for offering international shipping is the fact that you get to expand your customer pool. While people like same-day or next-day delivery, the truth is that, if the price is right, people are completely fine with waiting a couple of weeks to get their products. In fact, if AliExpress has proven anything it’s that people are ready to wait up to two months provided that the item is substantially cheaper or that there’s no available alternative locally. If the latter is the case, the potential customer really has no choice in the matter. They can either give up entirely or wait for the product to arrive, whenever that may be.

It’s not a difficult thing to do

Perhaps the most important reason why you should offer international shipping is – because you can. What we mean by this is the fact that creating an international shipping scheme is not nearly as difficult as it was in the past, especially due to the hyper-connectivity of the world today. Nowadays, businesses all across the globe have the option of employing premium logistic management services, thus outsourcing the entire ordeal of shipping to someone else. This covers virtually every aspect of shipping aboard, ranging from importing and exporting, container carriage, national warehousing and national transportation and distribution. In other words, all you need to make this work.

Expanding brand awareness

Previously, we’ve mentioned the fact that it’s easier to ship abroad than to start a branch in a foreign country, however, these two things are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Let’s face it, your products are your best brand ambassadors, which is why you can penetrate the market by shipping them to a certain area. This way, they will get some local brand following, some recommendations and reviews, which will, ultimately, make it easier for you to penetrate the market. This way, once you actually do decide to go international with your business, you might just find that you already have a presence in the area in question.

Fighting against product saturation

In time, the area that you’re in might become oversaturated with your products. The reason why this is so being fairly simple, especially if you’re in the one-time-purchase industry. For instance, a household only needs one chess set for a lifetime, which is once you sell enough of these in your own area, chances are that the business might start going south. Fortunately, by offering international shipments, you’ll always have more room to expand. As it happens, this particular industry is not time-sensitive, which means that the time of shipping won’t be a deal-breaker.

Strengthening the local economy 

The next thing you need to keep in mind is the fact that by selling your products abroad, you’re strengthening the local economy. Just think about it, by having a headquarters in your own country, you’re creating jobs locally. This is especially true if you’re not just selling but also manufacturing these products. Other than this, you’re sending your items abroad and receiving a profit for them, which means that you’re bringing new money to your own country/region, which is a huge plus on its own. All in all, strengthening the local economy is something that you definitely have to take into consideration as a huge plus, even if you fail to see how (on a micro-scale) this improves the odds of your own business.

In conclusion

At the end of the day, you need to bear in mind the fact that expanding internationally also brings its own risks and downsides. While it is a lot simpler than it was in the past, it is still both risky and difficult to execute properly. Then, you have language and cultural barriers to overcome, not to mention the issue of local laws and regulations. You see, what’s acceptable in your own country may be inappropriate or illegal someplace else. Lastly, provided that you need some sort of traditional presence in a foreign country, you need to be aware that finding reliable local help is not an easy matter either. Still, for those who endure, the profits are there to be had.