Exporters need to protect themselves. Why? Because even when you have everything planned, you are never safe from the unexpected: environmental disaster, loss, accident, etc.

Every exporter should get themselves, and their goods insure if only to sleep better at night. Beginners can purchase insurance through their carrier or freight forwarder. More experienced exporters will more often buy their insurance policy, an option that is usually more expensive but also more complete and adapted.

Here are the types of insurances an exporter should purchase:

• Workers’ and Employees’ Insurance: This policy covers the medical expenses of your team, as well as providing them with compensation for any missed wages incurred by an inability to work (caused by an accident, an illness, or an injury). Every state has laws governing workers’ compensation insurance, and we suggest you check with an insurance agent to know that yours are.
• Cargo Insurance: The only thing you need to remember here is « never let your merchandise leave without an insurance. » The insurance is used to protect your goods from damage, theft, or other loses than may occur during transit. The cost runs more or less about 1 percent of the insured value, but in case of misadventure, they cover not only the products themselves but also, in some case, the extra time, the troubles, and the lost profits. Your insurance should cover all risks (like wars, riots, and other civil disturbances), cargo vice (any attack by an unwanted organism, like salmonella on your chicken), and general average insurances (when someone using the same sea cargo than you is suffering lost, everyone has to pitch in).
• Credit Risk Insurance: This policy protects you if your foreign buyer decides not to pay you for either commercial or political reasons. The EXIM Bank offers different credit risk insurances for small businesses or single-time buyers.
• Commercial Property Insurance: This policy protects all properties that are used for business-related purposes against losses resulting from acts of nature, theft, or vandalism.
• Commercial General Liability Insurance: This coverage protects you from the others. If one of your vendors trips while delivering goods to you in your warehouse, the insurance will cover medical care and other expenses that you may incur.

The furious madness that has invaded online commerce is inevitably accompanied by its evil twin: fraud. It is estimated that online retailers currently deal with not less than 206,000 attacks on their stores each month, all carrying high risks of your data and your consumers’ data falling into the wrong hands.

Every ecommerce store owner should protect themselves against fraud. And by fraud we mean criminal deception conducted during a commercial transaction over the Internet and intended to result in personal or financial gain.

There are six main types of fraud ecommerce merchants should be wary about.

1) Credit Card Fraud and Interception: When a criminal use a stolen credit card number to buy products or services online. The transaction defrauds the cardholder, and eventually the store owner. In the interception scenario, the criminal steals the credit card and ask the goods to be delivered to the customer’s address. They then intercept the package before it reaches the door.

2) Affiliate Fraud: Merchant can use affiliate commissions, a system that share the benefit of a sale between the merchant and a partner who shared a link. For example, Partner A is promoting shoes on his podcast. Viewers click on the link to purchase the shoes. Partner A will then receive a commission from the merchant. In affiliate fraud, criminals game the system. They defraud the online merchant using fake activity to either generate commissions or to increase their amount.

3) Chargeback Fraud: This one is both easy and it can be hard to detect. It happens when a customer waits after they have received a good or a service (sometimes months after) to make a claim to their credit card company, stating that the expense was a fraud. The credit card company then demands a chargeback, and the merchant must refund the purchase.

4) Account Takeover or Phishing: Criminal send different customers direct emails and messages to try to get their personal info. They then use the password and username to log into different customers’ accounts to change the password and make different purchases.

5) Triangulation Fraud: A criminal creates a fake website to collect people’s information. He then uses this information to create a profile on different online stores and buy goods. They even go as far as to shipping the goods ordered by the customers on their fake website to maintain the fraud as long as possible.

Source: BigCommerce

CSA Research last stats are pretty clear: if you want to sell your products or services, you need to speak the language of your end users. And by “speak” we mean that your website, your helpdesk, and most of your communications must be in the mother tongue of the person you are trying to sell to.

You still think enough of your future clients speak English, and that should be enough?

Here (according to CSA stats)

• 73% of respondents want reviews in their language (“if nothing else”)
• 40% will not buy from other languages (and yes, that includes English)
• 65% prefer content in their own language (“even if it’s poor quality”)

There is no avoiding it: if you want to extend to other markets, you will need to localize your website. Even if you are in the United States and trying to expand to Australia. Yes, it’s English, but no, it’s not the same culture, the same holidays, the same payment options, the same postal codes, the same… you get it.

But let’s define localization first. Localization is the creation of a new website, based on your main site, that offers a new experience entirely designed for users from another country. Yes, localization includes translation, but it’s also a lot broader in scope.

• Translation: You need to make sure all relevant content (and if possible all content) is translated into the target language. That includes regionalisms. In short, everything needs to sound local, including copy, content, and brand voice.
• Cultural elements: You think it’s great to have all your measures in miles and foot? Think again. Make sure you know what units of measure and date formats are the right ones and take into account differences in holidays and celebrations.
• Transactions: Too many companies make the mistake of keeping the same payment terms from one country to another. Yet, it’s right when they take out their wallet that customers hesitate the most. Don’t give them the chance to lose confidence because of a localization error. Make sure that the currency is right, that payment options make sense, and that they can easily enter their address (do they put the door number or the street before? How long is the postal code?).
• Customer service: You should offer some local support and think about adapting your legal notices. This will help you build trust, especially with new audiences.
• UX and design: Chinese men don’t wear green hats. White is the color of mourning in some countries. Cows are sacred in others. Make sure your design and all the UX (user experience) are validated by experts who know your target market well. You’ll avoid uncomfortable mistakes.

Localizing a whole website is quite an adventure, and it can be costly. Some companies decide to penetrate new markets with a micro-site or a landing page that welcome new customers in their language before redirecting them to the main website (often in English, Spanish, or Mandarin). This should, however, only be considered as a short-term solution.

If you’re still unsure or if you have questions regarding the localization of your website, contact one of our experts on Export Connect.

Source: MotionPoint

Businesses use ecommerce platforms to manage their website, sales, marketing, operations, and part of their communication. Most platforms can be divided between headless, open-source, and SaaS. Your choice will mostly rely on your technological cabilities, your budget, and your final needs.

• Headless: Headless solutions allow the business to separate their shopping cart from their CMS. The platform used to interact with their client is either a content management system like WordPress or a design experience platform like Blooreach. Using a plugin, they add a shopping cart to this system to create an ecommerce shop. What you need to know: This solution leaves more room for personalization, but it can quickly become complicated. It also requires several integration operations and you need to confirm that all your systems are compatible (and that they stay compatible). This is a good option if you already have a working site in a recognized system and you have an in-house IT team to help you manage potential bugs.

 

• Open-Source: If you are looking for a fully customizable solution, open-source solutions are for you. This is a popular solution for very tech-savvy teams with budget. It allows you to control your environment from start to finish. What you need to know: You need to have the knowledge in-house if you don’t want to break the bank.

 

• SaaS: SaaS solutions are here to help you sell online, regardless of whether you have an in-house IT team or not. It is the simplest and cheapest solution. And for those who are still looking for a bit of customization, many SaaS platforms also have APIs that can help you counter the lack of flexibility. What you need to know: SaaS solutions still require a bit of know-how, but they are are the best options for beginners and SMBs.

 

Once you have defined what type of platform best suits your needs, you can have a look at the options out there, keeping in mind your budget limitations and your technological capacities.

Here’s a list of the most popular platforms:

• Shopify (SaaS)
• BigCommerce (SaaS and Headless)
• Magento (open-source)
• SalesForce (SaaS)
• WooCommerce (open-source)
• Shift4Shop (SaaS)
• Prestashop (open-source)
• Squarespace (SaaS)
• Wix (SaaS) Note: Wix is not the best platform if you want to start selling internationally.
• OpenCart (open-source)

You need help, or you’re still unsure about your needs? Contact one of our ecommerce experts on Export Connect.

Source: BigCommerce