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If you have any doubts that selling internationally is a major opportunity for your business, just look at the numbers. A  McKinsey study estimated that 1.8 billion people will enter the consuming class by 2025, annually spending $30 trillion. Another research by eMarketer.com suggested that global retail ecommerce sales are accelerating faster than previously anticipated, and APAC (Asia-Pacific) will be the main driver behind this growth, accounting for over half of global retail ecommerce sales. The study also expected ecommerce sales in the region to climb $1.459 trillion by 2019, contributing to over three-fourths of the worldwide growth of $1.907 trillion.

 

Before you open your doors to the world, you need a plan. If you’re new to the game, you may want to start small by selling a few items in a few markets. Once you’ve tested some key products and markets and feel ready to expand, you can invest more heavily. Whatever your starting point, we’ve outlined three critical areas of planning that can help you prepare.

 

Like any new venture, it pays to do your homework. Your first step is to learn about who your international customers are, what they buy and how they shop.

 

Start by looking at your own internal data to see from which countries people are already buying your products. Then, try further expanding your reach into these markets, even if only to test selling specific products.

 

To help develop your target markets, research the top countries that have strong demand for your products or niche specialty. Is there demand or a gap in the market? While you’re at it, try to learn as much as you can about consumers’ spending patterns and from which countries they typically buy.

 

With your initial market research out of the way, start thinking about how you’ll get paid. This is an important step, because checkout is the point at which international shoppers tend to abandon their purchases — either because their preferred payment method isn’t available or because they don’t feel confident their payment will be handled securely.

 

It’s important that you’re aware about how buyers in markets you want to sell to prefer to pay online with. Also, in general, people prefer paying in a familiar currency; so if you’re selling internationally, you need to think about being able to accept different currencies. And, if you’re not offering payment in local currency, make sure a clear currency conversion is shown so customers can see what they’re paying.

To help make it easier and quicker to start selling internationally, look for payment providers that address these. PayPal, for instance, allows sellers to accept major credit and debit cards, bank and PayPal payments; so buyers can choose to use their preferred payment type. PayPal also allows sellers to accept multiple currencies from multiple markets.

 

Look for a payment provider with a strong global reputation. PayPal, for instance, ranks among the top payment methods for international payments because of its renowned security and protection policies (i.e. Buyer and Seller Protection).

 

You have a couple of options for entering a new market — from starting small on an existing online marketplace, to optimizing your current website or setting up a local web presence in specific countries.

 

Established sites like eBay can often give you large reach. They allow you to test demand for your products before committing a large sum to redeveloping your existing site. Also consider other online marketplaces that may be popular in your target market.

 

A slightly more advanced option is to optimize your current website for international buyers. You can start by simply highlighting your ability to accept international orders with information on countries served and the shipping information.