The World Is Open for Business—And It Is Open for Yours!
Selling goods and services internationally is now easier than ever for a business like yours, regardless of size. More than 300,000 small and medium-sized firms in the United States export to at least one foreign market, up nearly 28% since Barai Overseas was originally started. Consequently, goods and service exports reached $2.28 trillion, marking an almost 25% rise. And, with $2.34 trillion in exports, it exceeded the previous years.
More Reasons to Experiment with or Expand Exporting
Global commerce in products and services is expected to expand in the coming years. When fully implemented, the new World Trade Agreement on trade facilitation, launched is expected to add $1 trillion to global GDP. This agreement requires the World Trade Organization (WTO) members to modernize customs procedures and reduce regulatory red tape, allowing products and services to move more quickly across borders while lowering prices. The US government will build a "single window" system with the same advantages and efficiency as the WTO initiative. The United States was negotiating trade deals with the European Union and Asian countries, notably the major market of Japan. Together, these markets account for half of world GDP and a third of global commerce.
If adopted, these accords will join existing trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Central America and Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR). The agreements create additional business opportunities by strengthening intellectual property protections, simplifying regulations, opening up the service sector and government contracting procedures, and generally treating foreign companies the same as domestic companies, in addition to lowering tariffs on imported goods by member countries and thus making these products cheaper for consumers. You have a worldwide marketing and order-taking platform if you have a website.
You may accept credit card payments for purchasers in Australia for a few more cash, or translate essential pages into Spanish and other languages to expand your reach. Global B2C e-commerce is expected to nearly double to $2.2 trillion in the next several years, with Asia-Pacific experiencing the strongest increase. As sales climb, you'll want to be in the game.
Do you want to increase the number of sales channels available to you?
Virtual storefronts and a ready-made global army of customers are available through online B2B and B2C marketplaces. They also provide payment options, and you may select a shipper who will handle all of the necessary paperwork for you. Many shippers provide foreign business advice, freight forwarding and customs brokerage services, cost calculators, and, in certain circumstances, financing to assist make things easier. They'll also pick up items and papers from your front door and deliver them to practically any location on the planet. You can also keep track of everything on their website. Some e-commerce platforms may arrange for your items to be shipped to one or more of their fulfillment centers, which are located in major commercial hubs throughout the world. Because things sell and ship rapidly to customers, you may refill the goods by sending bigger quantities to fulfillment centers, which is often less expensive than shipping one item at a time from your US location.
Do you want to expand your sales channels? If web-based marketing and sales aren't cutting it, you may visit trade exhibitions in the United States, where customers from all over the globe come to buy goods and services made in the United States. Show organizers will enhance buyer introductions by collaborating with government agencies to provide matchmaking services on the show floor. These same government organizations may arrange for you to attend trade events in other countries, where your embassy's connections and clout can help you save time and money while creating new business. Government organizations can help you discover buyers and set up introductions in over 100 countries. This service is referred to as "customized business matching." The following are some examples of channels:
• Direct to end-user
• Distributors in country
• Supplier to the U.S. government in a foreign country
• Your e-commerce website
• A third-party e-commerce platform where you handle fulfillment
• A third-party e-commerce where they handle fulfillment
• Supplier to a large U.S. company with international sales
• Franchise your business
You are not restricted to just one of these options. Today's global trade system is appropriate for small businesses that sell into several international markets through different marketing and sales channels. However, the majority of American exporters presently sell to a single nation market, such as Canada. Furthermore, the smaller the business, the less probable it is to export to many countries.
Why don't more small businesses export to markets other than their own country?
Fear is one of the reasons. Selling to a buyer in Canada, who appears to be not so far away, speaks the same language, and operates under a comparable legal framework, is not particularly frightening. Croatia or Myanmar are seen as more dangerous. But are they really? Many American enterprises are currently doing well in the country. In general, their "secret sauce" consists of meticulous preparation, depending on government export promotion organizations for assistance, solid core business basics, such as exceptional customer service, and a readiness to fly to a prospective customer if necessary. Selling into a specific region, such as Central America, and making use of free trade agreements offers significant benefits. The information in this book can help you swiftly expand your thinking—and your sales—from one market to several.
What is the best plan for your firm when deciding between various channels, markets, and countries? Private consultants, your home state and local U.S. government sources, the internet, and this book may all help you with that. And much of the assistance is provided for free or at a low cost. It is simple to find and utilize.
Your Global Entrepreneurship Ecosystem (GEE) Checklist
• The United States Commercial Service's local office:
The US Commercial Service (CS), which is part of the US Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration, provides businesses with a wide variety of international trade experience. More than 100 US Commercial Service offices countrywide, as well as more than 70 abroad locations, may support businesses on a local level.
• EXIM Bank of the United States of America (EXIM Bank of the United States):
Export Credit Insurance can help you protect your overseas receivables against nonpayment by foreign buyers. Give your company the tools it needs to compete more successfully when it comes to exporting. Learn more about EXIM's Working Capital Guarantee and Export Credit Insurance.
• Freight forwarder / customs broker
While freight forwarders operate as a link between a company and a transportation firm, customs brokers act as a link between a company and the US government's customs agency. Within the realm of international transportation, freight forwarders are responsible for a wide variety of responsibilities.
• The Port Authority of New York.
This is a government agency in charge of a port or city's bridges, tunnels, airports, and other infrastructure.
• Chamber of Commerce
A chamber of commerce is a group of businesses who work together to promote and protect their members' interests. A chamber of commerce is often made up of a collection of company owners that share a same location or set of interests, although it can also have a worldwide reach. Chambers of commerce may be found all around the globe.
• Office of International Trade (State).
The Worldwide Trade Administration's (ITA) objective is to promote prosperity by enhancing U.S. industry's international competitiveness, encouraging trade and investment, and enforcing fair trade and compliance with trade laws and agreements.
• The Mayor's Office and the Sister City Program
• The Small Business Development Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping small businesses succeed
• International logistics company.
• Other relevant companies or organizations.
A GEE might include your local Chamber of Commerce, your local World Trade Center, a university with an international business department, some Small Business Development Centers, the US Commercial Service, an international bank, and your state's international trade office, for example. Just a few examples. International commercial organizations may be found on social networking platforms like LinkedIn, which are worth examining. If anything, you've read thus far has surprised you—especially the fact that exporting is pretty simple, as is extending your market from one to many, even for very tiny firms, and that there is a slew of local yet worldwide people eager to assist you—you're not alone. Many potential exporters, like the folks we interviewed for the case studies in this book, claim that their most pressing need when they first started out was for more fundamental knowledge on how to export. The most important pieces of knowledge are how to identify the best markets for their products and services, as well as how to meet individuals who can buy them.
Amazed?
Then there's the possibility that you'll be startled by the old global business assumptions and the new ones that have replaced them.
This blog is primarily for you, the millions of business owners and their business development consultants who could export or export more. You've requested that it be explained in plain English how people who are busy operating their businesses may learn what they need to know to increase their worldwide sales.
Why Should You Export?
If you read this blog or received it through one of our business partners, you probably already know the answer to this basic question: Why bother?
Exporting is one of the most effective strategies to expand your business:
• Increase your bottom line (exporting firms are 17% more lucrative than non-exporting enterprises).
• Smooth out your company cycles, taking into account seasonal variations.
• Include managerial and cross-cultural experience.
• Make full use of your manufacturing skills.
• Protect your home market.
• Improve your market competitiveness across the board.
• If you opt to license your intellectual property, it will gain in value.
• Increase the worth of your company if you decide to sell it (and start another).
In another way, exporting is strategic.
Competition in a company's local market is escalating, particularly from international rivals, as the amount of commerce grows rapidly and trade barriers collapse. We must compete in our own backyard while also expanding our product and service markets in other areas:
• Outside of the United States, 95% of the world's customers reside. That's a lot of prospective clients to pass up.
• Domestically, foreign competition is rising. Companies must explore expanding into new markets outside of their own country in order to be really competitive.
• Exporting is financially rewarding.
• Exporting teaches companies how to compete more effectively.
The global economy is expected to grow. The number of "middle-class" individuals will quadruple to 1.2 billion, allowing them to afford foreign travel, higher education, and imported items from the United States.
According to the same research, exports from the United States are predicted to expand at a rate of about 10% per year for the next several years. It's possible that your product or service will be one of them. The difficulty for firms of all kinds in the United States is how to get into this amazing income flood, which will be powered in large part by more rich customers in China, India, and other developing nations. The goal of our website www.exportimport.guru is to get your pump started.
Companies that participate in global commerce report a change in income from export sales vs sales in their home markets as global trade expands. According to a survey of US exporters, exports accounted for 20% of yearly revenues for 60% of small businesses and 44% of medium-sized businesses.
When asked if export sales will expand at least 5% each year over the next three years, 77% of small businesses and 83% of larger businesses replied yes. "That's all well and good," you would fairly answer, "but do I have what a person in another nation will buy?" As you progress through the book, you'll learn about a wide range of firms that manufacture a diverse range of goods and services and have developed their company through exports. They are as follows:
• Bike racing socks
• Bike racing socks
• An exercise machine
• Bolts
• Fish food
• Garage doors
• Skylights
• Lightning deflectors
• Previously owned mining gear
Some of what is sold is distinctive, but the majority isn't, relying instead on other aspects like excellent customer service or marketing to complete the transaction. The companies and individuals behind them excel at business basics and are enthusiastic about developing abroad. One company described in the book calls itself a "micro-multinational" since it employs just 40 people yet sells to 60 nations.
Wholesale and distribution services are how these businesses generate money. And there are tens of thousands of them, many of them are quite little. Another solution to the question "Why bother to export?" is that exporting increases the knowledge and abilities of everyone who works in a firm that does it. Doing business in a market that is located outside of one's own country can have a transformative influence on its participants. Forming new relationships, getting up close and personal with another culture, figuring out how to meet the needs of others, and learning how to be inventive in addressing new business challenges are all personally rewarding experiences that lead to product improvements and make companies stronger in whatever market they compete in. "Exporting is simpler than we thought," said one small exporter interviewed for this book.
Exporting broadens your perspective on global economic issues. We need to move outside of ourselves to build relationships and open doors. It might begin modestly. That was the case for us. But it's becoming bigger. We've improved as a firm and as managers. Perhaps even better people. That, to me, is what success entails."
Pedaling Through Trials to Reach Global Markets is a Success Story DeFeet International is a company that specializes in footwear.
A small business case study is presented at the in this blog and shows how a company began exporting and developed that area of the company over time. Keep in mind some of the concepts from blog as you read the stories: the necessity of exporting to growth; exporting to different worldwide markets; good company foundations; overcoming hurdles; and obtaining knowledge and support from government and other sources.
The Business
Shane Cooper is the president of DeFeet International, a company that makes cycling socks. He has established a firm that currently has distributors in 35 countries despite significant difficulty over the years. In the early 1990s, he and his wife became bike racers. During the summers, she supplemented her income by racing motorcycles as an amateur, and he spent her supplementary income on his bike racing, as Cooper puts it. His father worked as a mechanic for a sock knitting machine and sold the machine's parts. Cooper the younger started to create socks one day in order to fund his bike racing interest. He adds, "It just kind of happened from there."
The Obstacle
For nine months, there was no output. Fortunately, there was insurance, but it required a lawsuit and three years to get everything that was entitled to me. As a result, when he eventually received the cheque, he had to pay taxes on it since it was deemed business income. "After the fire, we had a seven-year period where we didn't make any money," Cooper explained. "We regained profitability and began to reclaim the business." That came just in time for the 2008 Great Recession. People started ripping bikes down from garage rafters and riding them to save money just when things were at their worst. The Euro rose against the dollar, and bicycle stores became rich with cash. "So, after 7 years of struggle, we finally got it through." We've now been profitable for four years.
The Answer
The foreign business, of course, was the deciding factor. But it didn't happen on its own. Cooper engaged an international marketing manager who devised a European go-to-market plan that included a website and a distribution network. Cooper was able to focus on the company's research and development, which featured socks made from fibers extruded from recycled plastic bottles. Cooper chose to maintain manufacturing in the United States because he was concerned that creating the socks in Asia would result in quality concerns, environmental challenges, and a loss of intellectual property ownership. "To me, American-made equals control," he remarked. It's about jobs in the United States. It's about quality and, more importantly, value."
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