Researching International Markets
The next step requires more in-depth research in order to narrow your preliminary choices from the list you have created. We need to get your list down to one or two target countries for global e-commerce expansion.
The market(s) you choose should interface with your background and comfort level as well as the resources available to your business for Web site adaptation. In order to complete this process, we are going to add the Country Profiles Worksheet to your learning process.
This worksheet will allow you to make more detailed notes regarding the research of your target markets.
The first step in conducting international market research is to gain familiarity with the geography, language, and culture of a country or region. Small business owners are encouraged to gather general information on each prospective market and enter this data in the Country Profiles Worksheet in order to easily compare the different characteristics of each country. By compiling basic facts about a country or region and evaluating such topics as time zones, language(s) spoken, and the type of currency used in a given country, readers will begin to create a profile of their target market(s) that can be referred to later when considering more sophisticated issues in other parts of this guide.
General information about countries is readily available on the Internet and can be found by accessing any one of a number of online data banks and statistical sites. Many of these resources are listed throughout this section. However, searching for country information on the Internet can be surprisingly time-consuming.