Global Ecommerce Launch Checklist

For ecommerce companies that have already experienced success domestically, expanding internationally is a logical next step.

However, global expansion is a complex endeavour, and requires careful planning to maximize the chances of success. In this article, we’ve put together a comprehensive checklist of the most important issues you need to consider before your global ecommerce launch.

We’ve split the list into two sections. Market strategy involves all the high-level questions you need to ask to determine your overall approach to the market. Business executionencompasses all the concrete elements you need to implement before you’re ready for launch.

The first step in any global ecommerce launch is planning out your market strategy. International expansion is a major undertaking, and you will have to make important decisions about which markets to target first, and how to penetrate them.

The three key elements to consider before investing in a market are customers, competitors & vendors, and the regulatory environment.

International customers can often be very different from your regular domestic clientele. There are a few questions you need to ask about the local buyers:

When entering a new market, supply-side factors can be just as important to analyze as demand. These are the main factors to bear in mind:

Regulatory issues can often seem complicated, but they are absolutely essential to understand before an international launch. Here are the key issues to examine:

Now that you’ve carefully designed your market strategy, it’s time to translate it into a concrete business action plan. There are a number of key pieces that must be adapted for the local market before you’re ready to launch.

The three main categories you will need to localize are your website, marketing and backend infrastructure.

As the most visible element of your business, your online storefront should be comprehensively adapted for local preferences and user habits. International shoppers have a strong preference for ecommerce websites that have been appropriately localized, as it makes the store seem more trustworthy. The most important components of website localization are:

Your off-site marketing efforts are another key piece of the localization puzzle. The general rule is to always speak to your customers the way they like, where they like. The main aspects of marketing localization are:

While localizing your front-end presence is undoubtedly important, it is just as critical to prepare your back-end infrastructure before your big launch. There are a few important building blocks you must have in place

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