In my blog "Exporting Challenge" I outlined some factors you would have to address before you embark on your exporting journey. The first of these was "Will you need to adapt your product offer to suit overseas markets?"
One of the major benefits of exporting is the significant boost it gives to your productivity - on average 34% in your first year of trading internationally. Economists call it absorptive capacity but, in my words, it’s about being light on your feet, being able to adapt and change your product or service offer to different market conditions, taking into account different tastes, cultures, fashions and standards that will inevitably be different from those in your home market. One fantastic piece of good news is that when you do start to adapt your offer for export markets, you learn how to do it in your home market where the evidence shows that you will grow sales too! In short, adaptability is the key.
- Different standards are probably the most obvious reason for adapting. If you’re making a household electrical product and selling it to the USA, you will need to understand that the mains voltage is 110v (not 240v) and the frequency is 60Hz (not 50Hz). The plug will be different too. Simply selling your UK product will not do. You’ll need to do your research and adapt.
- You may want to look at your colour schemes. In the UK white may be seen as pure or innocent whereas in Japan it’s the colour of death and mourning.
- You’ll want to think about your brand. The Vauxhall Nova was a good name in the UK, signifying new and exciting. In Spanish speaking countries it translates as "doesn’t work". When Coca Cola first tried out in China they translated it as "keckoukela" which roughly translated as a wax stuffed horse. They learned their lesson and, after much research, came up with "kokou kole" which translates as happiness in the mouth!
- If you’re selling to Germany there is a regulation that you have to take back and recycle 70% of the packaging. You could sign up to the Grune punkt system and print a green dot on your packaging but you must make sure you have in place the necessary systems to comply with the regulations.
- I’ve eaten some very odd things around the world. Guinea pig in Peru, scorpions in China, a strange lizard in Vietnam, the salt licorice eaten all over Scandinavia but nothing could prepare me for the rotten shark in Iceland. Understanding local tastes in all meanings of the word will definitely help your business.
Adapting the offer for your product or service is part of the fun of exporting but is essential if you want to make the most of your international journey.
I hope you found this useful and if you have any observations or questions, let me know. My next blog will be on the subject of selecting the right markets for your company.