The Strategy Behind Williams-Sonoma's Global Expansion

Within 100 days of signing a contract with NetSuite, Williams-Sonoma launched four websites in Australia; the U.K. was next. The retailer chose those two markets for a number of reasons — it scored data by country, including which international visitors were shopping on its domestic website and in its U.S.-based stores; population and market size; and it wanted to launch in English-speaking countries first. After its market analysis, Australia and the U.K. became the top targets.