Expanding your small business to an international market

Posted by hecto on April 8, 2010 under Business Ideas, General Management, The Internet, Tips | Be the First to Comment

I have been thinking for some time about this and I have looked at a few small businesses that are currently doing it. Well my idea is that small businesses should use opportunities better and get their business to operate on an international scale. While it is always good to supply a certain market in a certain region I believe that some small business should look into supplying the international market. While this may not happen over night it could work if you give it a go. For example if you are selling washing machine parts in your local area why not put some of these parts online and try and sell them to people all over the world. You could try it out on eBay and slowly open your own website and build your customer base. You will be surprised to see how much interest you will get from people in other regions of your country and other foreign countries.

EBay enables people from all over the world to find your product easily. I used to sell on eBay myself and at the beginning I was only shipping most of my products to UK customers but over time this changed and I was suddenly shipping most of my products to customers in Europe and the US. But eBay prices are very competitive as there are many sellers selling similar products so it will be tough at the beginning, but even on eBay people look for service so once you have satisfied a buyer once s/he will come back to you if they need more.

Operating on a international scale does not mean having to get bigger it just means that you could get more customers. Ebay was one of the examples but the problem with Ebay it can only work with specific products and a lot of small businesses may find that the prices people sell there are the prices they buy their goods themselves. All that means is that you need to find cheaper suppliers. Another way you could serve an International market is by taking part in forums that fit your business people there are always looking for help.

There is also the option of getting your own website online to sell your goods but I would not suggest this if you don’t know what you are doing because you could end up spending a lot and not getting any results, this is why I was suggesting the cheaper methods to start with.