Navigating the Challenges of International eCommerce: What You Need to Know

Being an eCommerce entrepreneur affords you many opportunities not always present when opening a brick-and-mortar business, such as cutting overhead costs, built-in logistics tracking, and rapid scalability, among others. It requires less of an up-front investment to open an eCommerce storefront than a traditional business, opening the door to entrepreneurship for many who wouldn’t have the opportunity otherwise. Chief among these benefits, especially for those looking to scale their operation in time, is the ability to reach a wider audience than ever before.

Small businesses are, by nature of their size and capacity, typically confined in scope to their region, especially when starting out, unless they invest in their own ecommerce infrastructure and expand their capacity that way. On the other hand, small eCommerce businesses are gifted access to a much larger audience – even attracting customers’ interest overseas. Establish yourself in your niche, and you’ll find that with enough time, overseas customers will be knocking on your door, asking if you ship to their region.

Overseas markets can be lucrative but challenging, as they have their own set of regulations and best practices that you may not be familiar with. If you’ve noticed your storefront gaining a lot of interest from overseas customers, and you’re wondering how to capitalize on it – or even if you’re considering a point in the future where your scope expands to distribute globally – you’re in the right place.

Let’s break down what you need to know to navigate the challenges of international eCommerce.

Adhering to International Regulations

If you’ve been running your eCommerce business for a while, you likely already know a bevy of regulations surrounding trade in the United States. However, it’s crucial to note that a whole other set of rules applies when talking about international commerce, especially for industries that are under strict regulatory limits. Agencies like the FDA don’t hesitate to crack down on businesses that don’t adhere to their regulations. Stopping the trade of items that don’t pass scrutiny and failing to be aware of said regulations hasn’t historically been a valid defense.

The specific niche your business plays into will likely have different regulations that govern it, and trying to list all the possible permutations of rules you may have to follow is beyond the scope of this article. However, we can give you some insight into some of the more general considerations you should take into account. These are:

• Tariffs and taxes: Shipping goods internationally may result in duties being levied against either you or your consumer, depending on which country you’re shipping to, what classification your goods fall under, and how much they weigh. You can choose to include the cost of these taxes in your pricing or offer to take care of them yourself to make yourself more competitive.
• Shipping restrictions: Shipping restrictions are enforced by all countries, and almost all of them have their own policies. But what you may not consider is that third-party partners, manufacturers, and distributors likely have their own shipping restrictions in place, being unable to ship their goods to certain regions. Conducting research on where your goods are restricted internationally and checking in with your suppliers will give you a high-level view of your boundaries.
• Customer privacy laws: While you may be familiar with data regulations in the U.S., you may not be as familiar with how other countries determine that data governance should be handled. Familiarizing yourself with the data governance laws of every country you ship to, and then pivoting your data collection policies accordingly, is the best way to make sure you aren’t accidentally committing an international crime.

The common throughline through all of these is individualized research. Doing your homework before shipping your goods is a matter of company security, as nothing will shut down your dreams of expanding faster than being held liable for breaking international trading laws.

Keeping Electronic Assets Secure

When conducting business online internationally, you’ll also need to take additional steps to make sure that your electronic assets remain secure. Cybercrime is a prominent global threat that can do serious damage to your business, wrecking your digital infrastructure and absconding with customers’ payment information – and savvy cybercriminals target smaller businesses that may not have the security framework in place to ward them off.

As such, before shipping overseas, you’ll need to employ strategies to secure electronic assets like your customers’ financial information. Conducting a risk assessment to identify weak points, continuously backing up data for swift breach recovery, and enhancing your network security with VPNs, antivirus software, and advanced encryption are all a must. While it may seem like overkill to invest so heavily in digital protection, these strategies help keep your systems and your customers’ data secure – and better, unlock the ability to quickly recover should cybercriminals breach your systems.

Keeping your systems secure and your business in compliance with international regulations gives you the keys to the kingdom, allowing you to capitalize on international audiences without jeopardizing your business. Follow the above tips, and you’ll be able to scale your business, draw in more revenue, and achieve international brand recognition – all with as little fuss as possible.

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