NEW FRONTIERS FOR BRITISH BRANDS TEN TOP TIPS FOR INTERNATIONAL ETAIL

Transcription

1 NEW FRONTIERS FOR BRITISH BRANDS TEN TOP TIPS FOR INTERNATIONAL ETAIL

2 wearepentagon / 1 INTERNATIONAL LANDSCAPE EUROPE Eastern Europe is the fastest growing ecommerce region in Europe having posted a 47% growth in 2014 MIDDLE EAST The UAE leads B2C ecommerce growth in the Middle East INDIA Flipkart, India s biggest ecommerce company will be a mobile only platform by the end of 2015 RUSSIA Cross-border trade accounts for 15% of the Russian ecommerce market, with the segment growing at a rate of 50% per year CHINA 90% of all Chinese ecommerce transactions are completed through online marketplaces SOUTH-EAST ASIA Ecommerce in South-East Asia accounts for only 1% of total retail sales, but can potentially rise by a whopping 25% NEW ZEALAND $1.3 billion is spent by New Zealanders on websites based overseas, with USA, Australia and the UK the most popular USA Ecommerce sales in the US surpassed $300 billion in 2014, up 15.4% BRAZIL It is predicted that B2C ecommerce sales in Brazil will increase from $17.8 billion in 2014 to $40.8 billion in 2019

3 wearepentagon / 2 TOP TIPS FOR INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS Britain is respected internationally for quality and innovation when it comes to fashion. This gives our brands an inherent advantage when selling overseas. As the ecommerce ecosphere matures domestically, exporting will be the only way in which many brands can continue to experience high growth. Activating cross-border trade is not simply a matter of enabling delivery options through existing domestic sites, or assuming that if you open a foreign language site that it will be a success. British brands need to consider their end-to-end service if they want to compete on a global scale. Tip 2: Be Flexible Tip 1: Launch on a marketplace first My tip is to launch on a marketplace before setting up a direct website. Marketplaces not only have captive consumers, they offer an easier and faster route to market than a direct website, by reducing costs associated with marketing and promotions, payment collection and, in some cases, supply chain management. They are also an excellent way to test a new market and establish brand awareness. In the UK, omni-channel retail is well established. Brands have been able to pick and choose how they use marketplaces like ebay and Amazon, and in some cases eschewing them altogether. This is simply not viable in countries like China, where 90% of ecommerce activity takes place on a marketplace. My tip is to keep an open mind when it comes to integrating with marketplaces. Apart from stability and accuracy of information at all times, think about scalability. My experience is that IT resource is always limited on the client side, and so integrating through third party software tool is a much faster and scalable route to market, as opposed to clients integrating directly to each marketplace. At Pentagon we have our own integration hub, so brands only have to integrate once to our software. Our hub has direct integrations to certain marketplaces, but we also leverage technology from other providers with expertise in specific markets in order to provide a one stop solution for our clients. Tip 3: Plan Carefully The whole process of getting a store live on a marketplace is complex and needs to be managed and co-ordinated by a dedicated

4 wearepentagon / 3 Project Manager. There are different work streams to be considered and managed; such as building a store design in line with brand guidelines, data optimisation, localisation, technical integration and implementing the business processes in line with best practice. It is important to invest time and effort in planning, so that the launch of each new store is successful. This ensures that the implemented solution is reliable, allowing the brand to scale its business, on multiple marketplaces and in various countries, efficiently. Having a well-designed and implemented solution is crucial to ensuring future success of trading on a marketplace. Major technical problems affecting the store management could lead to customer dissatisfaction and potential brand damage. customer service rules that need to be managed. What works well in the UK will not necessarily work well overseas. Communicate clearly that you are an established British brand, but, amend the process and buyer experience, to fit the needs of the local consumers and consider the local competition. Carefully select the initial product range to launch depending on seasonality, domestic online product performance, marketplace and the local audience of each region. Start with a limited product range to test the process in the first few weeks and then ramp up the inventory. Tip 5: Optimise Data Tip 4: Prepare to adapt Brands need to think globally but act locally, by offering a solution that suits the needs of the local market, taking into account the local cultural preferences and regulations. In France for example, sales are tightly regulated by the government and can only happen twice a year. As well as navigating local laws, brands need to consider the idiosyncrasies of each marketplace, because they all have different search algorithms, marketing leavers and Marketplaces are amongst the most visited sites worldwide, however, they are also flooded with products offered by competitors. In order to be successful on an international marketplace, you need to make sure that your products are searchable. You need to think like a customer, create the right categorisation and merchandise your products accordingly.each marketplace has its own specifics with regards to the presentation of the products. Most of use catalogues and require consistency, while some allow more flexibility, enabling sellers to present their products on separate listing pages.

5 wearepentagon / 4 It is always a safe bet to include the most relevant key words in the title, to provide search terms, product attributes, clear and accurate descriptions and as much content as possible. In many international markets, consumers expect much more detailed descriptions and rich data, than a UK consumer would. There are ways to automate this, but we have found that the best results come from manual optimisation and this requires human resource. Tip 6: Use human translation where possible International customers are ready to buy from British brands, but they are more likely to buy from a brand who has made the effort to faithfully translate products and polices, as well as offering customer service support into the local language; and not only for luxury and higher priced goods. Apart from appealing to local customers, human translation is much better than machine translation, especially in terms of keywords and search placement which for a high SKU category, such as fashion, could be what makes you stand out. Tip 7: Chat not Customers need to be confident that they can communicate with the seller if the need arises, and that they are comfortable with their policies. Trained language speakers should be able to answer pre-sale and post-sale queries. Research conducted in 2014 indicates that around 40% of buyers abandon their shopping basket, and proceed elsewhere if they are not able to find the product information they are looking for. In countries like China, speed is critical, so understanding how customers want to interact is crucial. Most customers in markets where the mobile phone is dominant, will want to communicate via chat apps, and those buyers will expect a response in seconds not hours. Your customer service team also needs be diplomatic, persuasive and fully aware of local legislation and the rules of the specific marketplace. Tip 8: Fast Fulfilment Fulfilment can be a major obstacle when selling internationally. Certain countries are still notoriously difficult to deliver to; there can be delays, issues with customs and a lack of understanding about which carrier to use. It is important to focus on getting your products into these countries as quickly and as efficiently as possible to prevent damage to your brand. Work with a locally established courier that can get your products through customs, ideally using a tracked method. It is important to

6 wearepentagon / 5 find a bespoke solution for every country, as one size does not fit all. A phase two consideration can be setting up local fulfilment operations in key territories, or working with a partner. Some e-marketplaces offer fulfilment solutions, which supports distribution into multiple countries. Their local warehouses allow couriers to deliver goods within short timescales and they can manage local returns. Tip 9: Manage returns efficiently Make sure you have a clear and localised returns policy include information in your confirmation s and despatch notes. Be aware that customers never like waiting for their money to be refunded, and if an international returns process is not well optimised the refund process can lead to a lot of negative feedback. Providing a local returns address is not only more convenient for the buyers, but is also a requirement for some marketplaces. Amazon and Zalando now insist that all cross-border retailers offer local returns addresses. Retailers typically do not have local facilities in all major territories, so this is a pain point for most international sellers. locally on your behalf but can use them to re-fulfil in the local market or re-sell on your behalf locally. Tip 10 If in doubt, outsource Exporting to international customers through marketplaces is an incredible opportunity for all British brands; but managing integration, implementation, store management, data optimisation, customer service, logistics and returns internationally is a daunting challenge. Once you factor in the sheer volume of marketplaces available, the differences between each one, in terms of best practise, the legal and cultural nuances from country to country, and the requirement to provide a localised experience, many brands may be put off. Pentagon is able to manage these challenges by providing two turnkey, bolt-on services to British brands who do not have the time, resources, or knowledge to manage this in-house. Service 1 - We can set up and manage your branded store on each marketplace, where you are the merchant of record with a direct contract for each marketplace. Service 2 We can include you in our merchant of record store, where we have the direct contract with the marketplace and manage all of the payment processing and legal contracts. British brands should also consider partnering with innovative returns management solutions like ZigZag Global, who not only handle returns

7 ALLEGRO AMAZON EBAY ZALANDO LA REDOUTE OZON TMALL SHANGPIN XIU RAKUTEN PRIVALIA GITTY GIDIYOR MERCADOLIBRE MARKAVIP LAZADA TRADE ME GRAYS ONLINE NEW FRONTIERS FOR BRITISH BRANDS TEN TOP TIPS FOR INTERNATIONAL ETAIL Pentagon is a market leading ecommerce service provider that supports brands and retailers to sell internationally via e-marketplaces. We take the hassle out of global expansion and work for companies across the entire retail spectrum, in multiple languages. GET IN TOUCH +44 (0) hello@pentagon-interactive.co.uk twitter.com/wearepentagon