E-merchants, staying in your home market is like falling prey. Foreign competitors have already arrived to find growth and grow. This movement is only getting stronger in Europe. The market shares they seek from others are at the expense of domestic players. That means you.
Market opening: a reality at the service of e-commerce
This reality makes it possible to promote competition and competition at all levels and between all types of economic actors.
Uniform regulations and rules are accelerators of competition. Indeed, if for a company, setting up in a foreign country guarantees it the same rules of the game as in its domestic market, then it will be all the more motivated to come and set up there.
E-commerce solutions for the international market
The advent of e-commerce has led to changes in consumer behaviour and purchasing habits. The e-commerce sector has therefore become deeply structured. Today, 3 observations are unanimously shared by e-merchants:
1- By becoming virtual, points of sale are playing with borders. Opening an e-commerce site in .de, .it or .es does not present any difficulties.
2- Logistics systems have adapted to the development of distance selling and are now mature. For example, drop shipping solutions enable e-merchants to deliver to consumers in almost all European countries within a reasonable time.
3- ERP and backoffice systems are efficient and effective. Their functionalities are perfectly adapted to the challenges of e-commerce. Solutions such as Magento or Prestashop are so simple and intuitive that they can be described as Plug and Play.
On the one hand, we therefore have a single European market promoting the circulation of goods and services. On the other hand, we have dematerialised sales and distribution channels that meet real-time consumption needs.
These have an increasingly strong and lasting impact on the activities of e-merchants. The world, or more precisely the market, of e-commerce is becoming a jungle where the law of the strongest dominates.
So prey or predator?
This is how the question arises. Staying in one’s home market is equivalent to becoming prey. Foreign competitors have already arrived and this movement is only getting stronger. The market share they seek from others is to the detriment of domestic players.
Becoming a predator means growing by seeking growth abroad. This not only allows them to take new market shares but also to establish a position in their home country. Indeed, by increasing sales volumes, the web merchant will achieve economies of scale on its purchases but also make its investments in logistics and IT tools more quickly profitable. The room for maneuver thus freed up offers it additional means to keep its place in its domestic market.
Barriers that no longer exist
The barriers to international deployment no longer exist. The operational solutions that enable the conquest of new countries/markets while controlling risks and costs are known.
Do the reasons put forward by an e-merchant for delaying an international launch have any real foundation?
E-merchants, don’t wait any longer, become a predator!
