Selling to the rest of the world via eCommerce:
Consider the following scenario. You want to indulge in "eCommerce," or taking your company online. So, because online business is "different," you'll need to learn a new set of business rules and a new way of doing things, right?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no You also need to offer a product or service. You still have a store with a shop "window" (your website), and you still need customers to come into your store to buy whatever you're selling.
The only important difference is that your local store window can only be seen by a select number of people, while your online company can be seen by the entire world (to continue the analogy). You can take your company "global" by participating in eCommerce.
For many businesses, this is a major benefit and a great opportunity.
However, this is not true for all businesses, especially those that sell a physical, tangible product. When deciding whether or not to go online, you should think about your product and just who your target market is, as this will be a key factor in assessing whether or not your venture is a success.
What are you planning to sell on your eCommerce-enabled website, and who would be interested in purchasing it? Some goods would not be perfectly adapted to a global market by their very design. Pork-based foods, as well as wine, whisky, and beer, will not be popular in Muslim countries. In Iceland, Greenland, and the frozen polar north, sales of open-toed sandals may be disappointing.
Second, consider carefully how you can deliver the product to the consumer. For example, if you manufacture laser toner cartridges in Asia (as one of my client companies does), selling one or two cartridges at a time to a consumer in the United States makes little sense due to distribution costs.
Selling your product outside of your locality may not be feasible if it is bulky or heavy.
Furthermore, while most countries use the same Standard International Trade Classification (S.I.T.C) codes to determine how much import duty to charge on a given commodity, the actual duty to be paid differs from country to country, and such differences can (and will) result in disputes. Using my client as an example, they sold a shipment of toner cartridges to a customer in Finland, which was held up in Customs for several weeks upon arrival in Helsinki due to a disagreement about the amount of Import Duties that needed to be charged.
Despite the fact that this was not my client's or his customer's fault, the result was a dissatisfied customer who did not become a frequent customer.
Similarly, if you plan to offer a service online, can you deliver the service outside of your local area and still make money? Is it necessary to have one of your own employees interact with the customer (in which case you must remain local) or can the job be conveniently subcontracted globally? Is it possible to find a local subcontractor that can provide your branded service in a way that pleases both you and the customer? How much does a subcontractor like this cost?
If you can't get positive answers to any of these issues, it could be better to keep your services local rather than expanding to become a global player.
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