The Challenges of Cross Border Selling

Going cross-border through cross border selling can be an excellent opportunity for your business. However, along with the benefits provided by exporting, some challenges arise. Check them out!

Some time ago, having a virtual store stopped being a differential for the success of any business and has become a determining tool to achieve this goal. And the main reason for this is that an e-commerce not only provides an increase in sales and greater brand visibility, but also allows, through cross border sales, the entrepreneur to expand his borders.

This concept that we will explain next is perfect for people who are looking for strategies to leverage their business. However, for this to happen it is essential to understand this market and the challenges it brings.

With that in mind, we have listed some relevant information about Cross Border Sales, to help you boost your business in an effective and expressive way!

Cross Border Selling: Why do it?

Cross Border sales growth has been significant because of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020 alone, cross border sales moved approximately 23 billion reais, increasing 76% compared to 2019.

To go even deeper into the knowledge about cross border growth, we suggest reading the content we wrote on the subject: "Cross border growth: Understanding the impact of this trend".

And in case you are wondering what cross border selling is, we explain it simply and objectively: the word cross border means "beyond the border". So whenever we talk about cross border selling we are talking about the act of selling/exporting your products to other countries.

It is, therefore, a process that involves a lot of strategic detail, analysis, and planning.

6 Challenges of Cross Border Selling

Making a cross border sale involves many procedures as we mentioned above, and for it to be executed in the best possible way it is necessary to overcome many obstacles and challenges that this type of operation demands.

These include unexpected costs associated with shipping, which represent the main source of cart abandonment, as high as 28%. In addition, non-localized sites, descriptions without a local feel, pricing in a different currency, all can affect cross border sales.

The challenges, as we will show below, can be classified as internal and external.

Adaptation of products for other markets

Is your product adapted for cross border sales in other countries? If not, it is of utmost importance to update the information and characteristics of your products for all the markets you wish to export to.

A relevant aspect that should also always be taken into consideration is the local culture and language of the country. Try to study and learn about the preferences, slang, customs, and everything that can help you in cross border sales.

Assertive communication and marketing

If creating, planning, and executing an efficient communication and marketing to commercialize within our country of origin, where we know and master the culture, language, and other peculiarities is already complex, imagine for others.

Therefore, if your business wants to make cross border sales, it is necessary to be aware of this and invest in strategies that help in this process, such as, for example, partnerships with local marketing agencies, which can serve as a support in this mission, once 

will better understand the consumer culture of the country where your company plans to expand its operation. 

This knowledge is necessary to understand whether the product that you want to export is suitable for the needs of the consumers. That is, if it is in line with what the local population likes to buy. In addition, it is extremely important that your company's website has versions in other languages.

Governing Laws

Just as Brazil has agencies responsible for regulating and supervising the origin of products, the same happens in other countries. In this way, these bodies define which products and companies are suitable for export. Besides, of course, evaluating and establishing a minimum quality standard that these products need to have in order to be sold in the country.

So you need to do some research to find out if your goods are allowed to be sold in the country you want to sell cross border.

So for cross border sales it is vital that companies are aware of any legal obligations they may have in the country where they intend to export. Depending on the market where the sale is being made, it may be, for example, that the retailer will have to adapt its return and exchange policies to suit the consumer protection code in force.

Payment methods and processing

Accepting payment with the preferred consumer method of the country your business will export to is essential for successful cross border selling. Therefore, working in partnership with local or international processors, such as Ebanx and PayPal, can be an excellent solution.

Prospecting for new customers

Cross border selling requires you to have a prospecting strategy. In practice, this means knowing how to expose to the potential customer all the differentials that your product has. To do this it is important to identify your target environment, or in other words, in which cities and establishments your product will be sold and in which way.

Efficient and specialized logistics

In cross border sales, organization is crucial for the operations to be carried out. Relying on a company that is already used to making cross border sales makes life much easier for entrepreneurs and companies looking to sell their products to new markets.

ShipSmart, for example, allows individuals, small and medium-sized businesses to ship their products around the world with a highly efficient delivery network, simplifying the logistics process and minimizing problems.

Through the platform it is possible to simulate international freight, understand the main rules of the most requested global markets, calculate taxes and duties of the products in the destination countries, and, in fact, request shipments through their devices or APIs plugged into their platforms in a simple, fast, and fairly priced way, without worrying about taking the product somewhere or filling out a series of documents. 

At ShipSmart your cross border selling can be less complex. Visit the site and see how to sell your products without barriers and headache!