How To Sell Internationally: Reach New Markets and Boost Sales in 2025

When selling to international markets, the most realistic and cost-effective method is to sell online. Below, I’ve listed the key ecommerce steps you should take if you want to get started now.

1. Before You Start: Conduct Market Research

You can’t dive into a new market unless you’ve grasped the basics. To understand international buyers, their needs, and how their shopping behaviors are influenced by the economic landscape and evolving trends, you can’t skip the market research stage.

In fact, there are numerous factors to consider when picking an international market. While one market may sound potentially lucrative, it won’t always make the best choice for your business. Here are some important factors to consider during your research:

• Cultural nuances – Each target market will have its own set of cultural nuances, like unique customs or communication styles, that are important to understand. If you want to communicate well with these new audiences, you need to know what these nuances are, or you run the risk of alienating your target market. For instance, some cultures may prefer either direct or indirect forms of speech, while others may showcase varying degrees of formality. 
• Global trends – What’s hot in one market may not be so popular in another. You can use tools like Google Market Finder or Google Trends to see what buyers from around the world are most interested in.
• Languages spoken – Most regions will consist of different groups of people that speak varied languages. Make sure that you identify these different languages early, so you can gauge how easy or difficult it’ll be to localize your store for these specific consumers.
• Political and economic stability – A market’s political and economic state can influence how much of a profit your business makes overseas. Check for any declines in consumer spending, trade restrictions or tariffs, or any political instability that could impact your store’s operations.

Once you’ve assessed these factors during market research, you’ll have a better idea about which markets are most compatible with your business and what you’re offering.

2. Choose the Right Products To Sell

Equipped with a better understanding of your target market, you can now hone in on which products you’d like to sell. However, you need to choose wisely. The items you select should align with the preferences of these new consumers.

Here are a few factors to consider:

• Adaptability – For best results, opt for a product that can be widely accepted across different markets. The more locations you can sell within, the more revenue you’ll make overall.
• Demand – As you conducted market research, it’s likely that you came across data showcasing the most popular trends in each market. Use this knowledge to your advantage and choose products that customers really want. 
• Product availability – Shoppers may be interested in a product that isn’t readily available in their region. Do you offer something unique that they may be looking for?
• Legal considerations – Do you need a license to sell your goods in another country? For product types like food, medicines, or antiques, you’ll need to make sure that your products are legal to sell in your chosen market and that you abide by trade regulations.

3. Build Your Online Store

When building your store, you have two options: use an ecommerce website builder like Shopify or Wix, or set up with a global online marketplace like Rakuten or Amazon. Unsure which method to opt for? Let me briefly explain the differences below:

Ecommerce Website Builders

Ecommerce website builders, be it Shopify, Wix, or BigCommerce, will provide you with all of the tools needed to set up an online store quickly. They’re also ideal for selling internationally, since they provide you with the sales features, marketing features, and support that you need to successfully reach new markets.

✅ The pros of ecommerce website builders:

• Website builders make it easy to manage your store’s costs, since they charge set pricing plans, and typically cover hosting and domain names for you.
• Some platforms have specialized sales tools to help you break into new markets. For instance, Shopify Markets provides tools to help you reach new consumers across the globe, customizing their experience to increase conversions and facilitate growth.

❌ The cons of ecommerce website builders:

• Taxes are your responsibility if you’re using a website builder. Before selling internationally, you need to have a clear understanding of the applicable sales tax rules so you don’t run into any legal trouble down the line.
• Most website builders won’t ship your orders for you, so you’ll need to organize this yourself. However, they can come with shipping tools (like labels) that help you manage your orders.

Online Marketplaces

If you want to reach new audiences fast, I recommend using an online marketplace like Rakuten, Alibaba, or Amazon instead of an ecommerce website builder. Because these platforms already have a huge audience base, you can spend less time on your marketing efforts since your store will be placed in front of thousands of users from across the globe.

✅ The pros of online marketplaces: 

• Most online marketplaces are used to accommodating global audiences, so many of these sites already come with fantastic translation and localization tools. For instance, Alibaba has a translation feature that supports over 214 languages.
• Some online marketplaces, most notably Amazon, offer reliable order fulfilment services that take care of shipping for you.

❌ The cons of online marketplaces: 

• Because marketplaces have significant site traffic, it’s possible for your store to get lost in the sea of search results. Competition is high, making it difficult for your business to stand out.
• Some marketplaces have high platform costs, which could impact your overall profit margins. Compare the rates between different platforms before making a final decision.

4. Set Up International Shipping and Payment Methods

To provide customers with a seamless shopping experience from checkout to order fulfilment, you need to set up your shipping and payment methods. I’ve covered this step for you below.

What’s the Easiest Way To Ship Internationally?

For shipping, I suggest partnering with a reliable fulfilment center that can outsource your shipping for you. Not only does this reduce stress and costs, but it can also speed up the delivery of customer orders since these centers will already have a streamlined system in place.

These centers work in a simple way, holding your stock in (or near) your target location. Then, when you receive an order, the fulfilment center will pack the item and send it to the customer on your behalf.

With international shipping often being expensive and slow, using a fulfilment center can be a smart move for fast-paced businesses.

Which Payment Methods Should I Offer?

In regards to how you take payments online, the more options, the better. If you only offer one or two payment methods, some customers won’t be able to follow through with a purchase.

However, keep in mind that preferred payment methods vary from market to market. What’s popular in one region may not be widely used in another. For instance, though paying with credit and debit cards is popular in America, Chinese shoppers tend to sway towards digital wallets such as Union Pay, Alipay, or WeChat Pay.

Last of all, you need to be aware of any additional costs that come alongside your chosen payment methods. This encompasses transaction fees, intermediary bank fees, and currency conversion fees. I also recommend keeping a close eye on exchange rates, since any fluctuations can impact your ecommerce product margins.

5. Localize Your Site

Before you publish your online store and get selling, you need to localize your site so it’s personalized to the needs of your chosen market. To cover all aspects of your store, check that you’ve localized:

• Currencies – It should be easy for shoppers to change currencies. Different currencies are represented by certain symbols or codes, while the formatting of prices can also vary, so make sure that these are correct.
• Your domain name – While “.com” is often the default domain extension of most international businesses, you can have different domain endings based on the regions you operate in. For instance, a version of your site localized in Italy may end with “.it” instead.
• Checkout – You should tweak your checkout depending on where you’re selling. For example, invoicing is a popular payment method in Germany, so you could add this option to your checkout for German users. 
• Page languages – Of course, shoppers won’t be able to order from your site if they don’t understand what each page says. An effective multi language site will make sure that all pages are accounted for, which includes specific features like navigation bars, product titles, product descriptions, sign-up forms, pop-ups, and call to action buttons.

Remember to test your localized website before hitting publish. Things to look out for include incorrect translations, imagery that doesn’t align with a market’s cultural norms, inaccurate times or dates, and currencies that use the wrong symbols or aren’t formatted correctly.

6. Regularly Audit Your Store’s Progress

Once your store is live, you can’t stop there. You should be regularly auditing your site to make sure that its performance is supporting your sales goals, and not hindering them.

You should be looking out for:

• Ecommerce security risks – You need to keep on top of your site’s security to protect customer data during transactions. I recommend regularly updating your site’s security protocols, since you’ll want to be prepared for any site attacks.
• Out-of-date content – Check your site for any broken links, blank imagery, or clunky design elements. Also, don’t forget to update important information (like your shipping policy) if any key details have changed.
• Slow site load times – Make sure that your site loads swiftly to prevent customers from feeling frustrated while they shop. The slower your store runs, the more likely that international shoppers won’t follow through with a purchase.

During your audit, I also suggest spending time researching your biggest industry competitors. Examine their pricing (can you offer more competitive prices?), work out their best sellers, and see how their customers are responding to their business through review sites and social media channels.

Additionally, make sure that you’re keeping tabs on new market trends. If you spot a specific high-margin product rising in popularity, or notice a dramatic change in consumer behaviors, it’s a sign to adapt your ecommerce sales strategy accordingly. 

Now that I’ve shown you how to sell internationally, here are some additional tips that’ll enable you reach more customers and boost your sales further.

Optimize Your Site for International SEO

For your site to appear in global search results, you need to optimize your store for international SEO. Make sure that your site pages, product listings, and metadata include target keywords that are popular in your chosen market. You can use popular tools like Semrush or Ahrefs to see which keywords are trending in specific locations.

➡️ Still need to look for the right keywords? Our guide to keyword research will help you get started

Tweak Your Marketing Strategy for Different Locations

If you already run an online store, you’ve probably spent a considerable amount of time developing your ecommerce marketing channels to attract customers and convince them to buy your wares.

Though this knowledge is certainly helpful, different international markets require different marketing approaches. In much of Europe and the USA, for example, most consumers will search for products through search engines like Google. In China, by contrast, search engines are widely restricted, leading to consumers having to find brands via other methods.

By understanding the international market you’re entering, you’ll be able to generate a better marketing ROI. For example, you may allocate large amounts of your marketing budget to search engine ads in the USA, while investing in a highly functional mobile application to appeal to the Chinese market.

Adapt Product Packaging and Labelling

When sending packages abroad, you may need to adapt your ecommerce packaging and labelling. For example, it might be neccessary to:

• Change packaging to comply with local regulations
• Translate product information, instructions and warnings to the local language
• Consider cultural sensitivities when designing packaging graphics
• Apply country-specific certification or symbols to packages
• Ensure that your packaging is durable enough to survive international shipping

Monitor Currency Fluctuations

Currency fluctuations can seriously eat into your profits if you don’t monitor them and adjust accordingly. So, it’s important to set regular reminders to check key currencies and adjust your prices. This will not only limit your potential to lose money, but will also ensure that customers aren’t put off by inflated prices.

Though some website builder platforms and payment providers will allow you to automatically update your foreign currency prices, it’s important to check that yours does rather than leaving it to chance.

Embrace Cultural Sensitivity

Doing business in other countries can be a fun learning curve.

In order to embrace your new customers and show that you respect their culture, it can be a good idea to familiarize yourself with cultural sensitivities, norms, customs and taboos. You can then use your research to adapt your marketing messages and website to your local audience.

This process will help you better resonate with your new target audience, and it will also help you identify language or imagery that may be deemed inappropriate.

While opening your business to an international audience can be highly lucrative, it can also feel both confusing and stressful for smaller businesses. However, by following the tips that I’ve highlighted in this article, you can now understand the various factors that need to be considered when entering new markets.

Remember, the main steps you need to cover to sell internationally include:

1. Picking your target location carefully
2. Adapting your marketing strategy
3. Planning operations such as shipping, returns, and fulfilment
4. Adapting your website and customer service to meet local needs

Once you’ve mastered these easy steps, you’re ready to make sales overseas!

➡️ Want to entice more shoppers onto your store? Check out our guide on how to attract more customers