International Strategy
August 11, 2015 at 2:15 pm
Last year, China overtook the U.S. as the world’s largest economy. That milestone drew attention to the explosion of online retail sales in China, which had built up speedily over a number of consecutive years of significant growth. In 2014 alone, Chinese online retail sales grew 50 percent to reach $450 billion. Despite these impressive…
July 28, 2015 at 1:19 pm
Making the leap from being an English language-only online business to selling in multiple languages can be daunting, but it’s by far the fastest and most cost-effective way to massively expand your customer base. If you have the infrastructure to sell directly to consumers in China or Spanish-speaking countries, why not do it? All you…
July 23, 2015 at 2:25 pm
Wal-Mart is increasing its efforts in China’s e-commerce space after the world’s largest retailer took full ownership of Yihaodian, its online retail business in the country. The U.S. retailer is buying up the remaining 49 percent stake in Yihaodian, a lesser rival to U.S.-listed duo Alibaba and JD.com, from financial services group Ping An of…
July 10, 2015 at 2:49 pm
Digital currencies. We’ve all heard of them, but here in the U.S. they're not widely used … yet. Litecoin, Dash, Peercoin, Dogecoin, Primecoin — this is just a small list of the many different digital currency exchanges available, but the most well-known, largest and notorious player in this space is Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a decentralized,…
July 7, 2015 at 2:44 pm
This year Costco will expand its presence in the United Kingdom, Japan and Spain. The retailer's membership format has found appeal in many foreign countries, and I see more success ahead. There are now 674 Costco warehouse clubs in operation globally, 475 in the United States and 199 units outside the U.S.
July 1, 2015 at 2:34 pm
Online retail giant Amazon.com has opened its Mexico site for business, offering free delivery on orders of over 599 pesos ($38.25). A statement posted on the Amazon.com.mx site Tuesday said “we are launching in Mexico with more categories, more items and more functions than any other international Amazon website has featured at launch.” Online shopping…
June 25, 2015 at 3:14 pm
Even though schools are just out for the summer, it’s already time to start planning for the 2015 holiday season. And this year, international sales should be a big part of your selling strategy, especially since people who shop internationally spend nearly twice as much as those who only shop domestically. The holidays give merchants…
June 18, 2015 at 4:59 pm
Many online retailers are seeking out global consumers as they look to grow their brands. And with good reason: eMarketer forecasts that global e-commerce sales will reach nearly $2.5 billion by 2018, with China leading the way. However, it's not as easy as setting up an e-commerce site one day and expecting the sales to…
May 14, 2015 at 2:46 pm
Americans often affectionately call Canada the 51st state. Population wise, it would be the second largest state after California and the province of Ontario alone would be the fifth largest. U.S. online retailers are flocking to Canada as it was recently identified as an "ideal market" for retailers looking for cross-border e-commerce opportunities. However, as…
May 12, 2015 at 4:43 pm
Home improvement retailer Lowe's has acquired the leases for 13 former Target locations in Canada, and plans to open up new stores that could employ as many as 2,000 people. The chain said it purchased the retail storefronts, as well as Target's former distribution hub in Milton, Ontario, for $151 million at an auction of the leases run by the court-appointed monitor overseeing the former retail chain's insolvency.
