Should you market your store globally, locally or both?
The usual response to this question would naturally be to market globally since the main reason why most people set up online stores is to get a piece of the global pie.
But there are situations that might require a merchant to only concentrate on certain countries, demographics or niches, thus curtailing their plans for world domination.
The decision on where to market a store depends a few factors. Some of these factors are within a merchant’s control and some are not. Therefore, it is important that a merchant examine the strengths and weaknesses of their store carefully before putting it online.
Consider these 2 easy web page hosting shopping cart tips before making any marketing decisions:
Drop Shipper
Before engaging the services of a drop shipper, be sure you know where they will ship products to. Not all drop shippers ship worldwide. Many drop shippers ship to limited destinations to preserve their competitive edge via established supply chains. Moreover, many new drop shippers do not have the resources to go international just yet, so it makes more sense that they concentrate on a local or regional market (which is relative to the drop shipper and not the merchant).
If you rely on the services of a single drop shipper (or even a few drop shippers that ship to relatively the same places), then you have to market your store to suit their limitations. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, provided your drop shippers’ shipping coverage is enough to sustain your store. For example, the drop shippers in Doba’s (Doba is a drop shipping supplier integrated with InstanteStore) list only ship within the US. However, the US market is relatively huge and definitely large and diverse enough to sustain any properly-marketed store.
Product
If you are selling special, hard to get tires, then you should probably market your store worldwide. Products that cater to certain niches have less competition but also have a smaller customer base. Marketing worldwide is then a viable option.
But if you are selling something that is very localized like car or business insurance, then it makes much less sense to try to market your store or product globally. However, many smaller brick and mortar local insurance companies have taken to the Net to improve their businesses. Selling localized products over the Internet has its advantages because the long tail keywords used make sites easier to find — again, if marketed properly. For example, a search for “cheap car insurance” will get you almost 30 million results. However, a search for “Denver cheap car insurance” will provide you with just over a million results. One word can be the difference between a site getting lost in cyberspace, and business from a targeted market.
If you are a software company looking to sell online shopping cart solutions, then a global market is the only logical option. Products and services that cater to a general audience – books, apparel, online shopping cart consulting, easy web page hosting shopping cart software and services – are perfect for the global market.
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