If you are operating an e-commerce business in Canada and want to expand and sell your products in the United States, it is important that you understand how to expose the product to audiences in the United States. Generally, there are four steps involved with entering the U.S. market:
1. Entering the Market
First you might want to consider if you even want to enter the U.S. market. This might include the need to research the product that you plan to sell along with any competitors you might run into along the way. It is important to identify your target audience and come up with a strategy on how to reach your targeted audience. Although you might have already done your research and targeted your audience in Canada, it is still important to conduct an analysis in the U.S. market to best determine
whether you even want to enter the market and/or your strategy to develop a market entry plan accordingly.
2. E-Commerce Market
The next step is to build your inventory and understand the best practices on how to manage your products while cataloguing the products on your website or any third party marketplace you are selling on. It is also important that you arrange for payments to be processed, and building systems through which to fulfil orders and ship products. For the U.S. market, you should also ensure you have a reliable returns process.
3. Marketing and Selling
Getting your products ready for sale in the U.S. is one thing. But now you will need to market the product in order to actually sell the product. Developing a strong marketing plan in often one of the most important and most challenging tasks when launching a new e-commerce business.
4. Growth
Once your business grows past the start-up phase and starts to sell high volumes of product, more challenges and new opportunities may arise. As the market changes and your business grows, it might be wise to consider how you can adjust.
If you want to learn more about Getting Your E-Commerce Platform Ready for the US Market, click here.