5 reasons to enter international marketplaces

According to statistics, 63% of sellers trade only on marketplaces. With the advent of large marketplaces, making money on online trading has become easier: sellers who create products under their own brand and intermediaries reselling products on marketplaces ordered directly from suppliers use these platforms. At the same time, for many local online sellers, such sites are often the only way to quickly and with optimal investments enter the international market, which means giving the business a new round of development and increasing its profitability.

Of course, working on international marketplaces like Amazon or Wish has its own difficulties: from choosing reliable suppliers to maintaining the optimal price level.

Well, for those who want more details - the article below.

So, why go to international marketplaces?

1. Large customer base

Entering the world market with the help of one of the international online trading services, the seller gets access to a huge customer base. According to statistics, in 2016, 1.6 billion people made purchases on the Internet, for example, Amazon is the ninth most visited website in the world.

2. Large market size

Online trading in 2016 amounted to 8.7% of the total world trade - it is expected that by 2020 this figure will double. Trading in large marketplaces, the seller gains access to the resources of a huge market segment - with small investments.

3. Variety of goods

At large marketplaces, the choice and variety of products is really impressive: for example, on eBay there are more than 300 categories of goods from apartments and antiques to toys and accessories for smartphones. This gives sellers a unique opportunity not only to occupy their niche (no matter how narrow it may be), but also to expand the range of their products within one online platform.

4. Turnkey sales

International trading platforms have huge marketing coverage. Years of successful promotion of sites such as Amazon, Ebay, Etsy and others provide brand recognition. Own marketing is still important, but thanks to the built-in marketing tools, providing quality advertising support is easier and more convenient than in the case of your online store. According to a Payoneer survey , 27% of sellers on marketplaces use seasonal promotions and offers to promote, and the same amount buy advertising on the marketplace.

In addition, using large marketplaces is really convenient. According to the same survey, nearly 30% of Amazon sellers chose this site precisely because of its ease of use. This convenience also attracts buyers, because making a purchase on an already familiar site with a friendly interface is faster and easier.

5. Convenience of settlements with customers

International online services do for the seller all the routine work associated with paying orders. Thanks to modern solutions for receiving international payments, sellers can receive funds from buyers from all over the world in a matter of hours - while the payment process will be simple for the customers themselves. In particular, according to the survey , 78% of Amazon sellers use Payoneer to receive payments.

How to get around pitfalls?

Of course, the entrance to the international platform has not only advantages, but also difficulties. We asked those who have already taken place in the field of online sales what obstacles novice sellers face. Experts note: first of all, it’s worthwhile to understand that owning a store on the marketplace is not a hobby or an “easy side job”. This is a full-fledged work that requires the seller to constantly engage, a lot of time and effort aimed at studying the market. The seller’s task is to understand what products are popular, because if they don’t sell something, it can mean both an unoccupied niche and lack of demand.

From this point follows the following difficulty: the choice of supplier. The unreliability of a partner can bring a lot of problems to the intermediary: from untimely delivery of goods to the buyer to closing the store due to the lack of licenses for the distribution of goods. It should be borne in mind that the seller needs to communicate with several suppliers at once, because, as experts emphasize, a large selection of goods is the key to the success of the store.

In addition, market monitoring is needed to understand the optimal price level. In particular, the successful Amazon-entrepreneur Andrei Polishchuk advises in the podcast to pay attention to products in the price category up to $ 50, since according to him this price category is in greatest demand.

But there is good news: these obstacles are surmountable! All that is needed to deal with any of these difficulties is the time taken to study the information. We advise you to get the opinion of those who already have successful experience in trading on marketplaces.



That is why Payoneer writes podcasts to help both novice and already established sellers, in which company experts and successful representatives of the e-commerce industry share their experiences with students, give advice, reveal industry life hacks and inspire business development. Listen to podcasts >>