Would you like to scale your online business without being limited to just one market? Are you looking for the best way to make the online store you set up more profitable? Do thoughts of starting an overseas expansion cross your mind increasingly often? If so, you surely know that the decision to enter foreign markets requires careful thought and the development of a strategy that will allow you to succeed. There are many issues you will necessarily have to consider before starting your first operations - starting with what country or countries your offerings are likely to attract interest among local audiences, to how to conduct market research and target audience, to the choice of the sales platform on which you will set up your foreign store.
When analyzing the available sales platforms that will help you successfully enter foreign markets, you are sure to discover that one of the most recommended solutions is Magento, both in its free open source version and Adobe Commerce with a paid license. As a software house with years of experience in putting online stores on Magento, we explain below how this sales platform supports overseas expansion and why it might be the best choice just for your business.
Magento 2 - functionality supporting overseas expansion
Why should you bet on Magento when planning to expand overseas? The answer lies in one of the biggest advantages of this popular sales platform - the so-called multistore functionality, which allows you to have several stores running on separate domains on Magento and manage them from one administration panel. Importantly, the number of stores, domains or sites within the platform can be unlimited - Magento will do a great job of handling each of them. The situation will be similar in terms of scalability. Taking advantage of the multistore capabilities, you can decide both to launch immediately with several separate sites or stores for selected countries, and to slowly plan for overseas expansion, one by one and at a leisurely pace discovering each new market.
Magento multistore and overseas expansion
Magento multi-store is used by eCommerce stores in various strategic business situations. It works well, for example, when owners or eCommerce managers:
- are planning to expand their assortment, and because of its diversity or different target audience, they prefer to bet on a new domain,
- are seeking to grow their business by strengthening activities aimed at positioning their offerings in the search engine (with the help of new domains),
- are struggling to maintain a competitive position in the market by creating new brands and domains,
- are trying to start overseas expansion - they want to sell to more than one country and they need online stores targeting people living in particular countries of their choice.
However, all of the created stores need to be managed in a certain way, aiming at smooth operation of each site and achieving the expected results in terms of sales. The multistore functionality allows you to create a sort of copy of your current online store - so there is no need to put up an additional site from scratch, even abroad. Why? Because Magento is characterized by advanced possibilities to adapt the created online stores to the requirements of regional markets - in terms of products (e.g. the possibility of customizing descriptions), payments (available currency), shipping methods or even legal conditions (especially taxation).
This way we can ensure that our online store's offerings are better received by potential foreign customers, the scaling of the business is done legally, and customers receive all the features needed in an online store - all in the shortest possible time needed for implementation and with minimal effort. At the same time, it gives us the opportunity to get the store up and running for foreign countries in less time and at a lower cost than if we were putting up eCommerce completely from scratch.
Multistore - more than a second language version
Because of the above-mentioned functionalities (some describe them as multilingual and multicurrency), Magento is often recommended to eCommerce owners planning to expand overseas - both in the situation of putting up an online store from scratch and in the desire to migrate to a platform that will respond to emerging needs for growth into new markets.
However, it is mandatory to remember that a multistore is not the same as a website with several language versions (i.e. store views). Of course, we can ensure that our website is also available in English or another language of our choice, but then the only thing that changes is the language - the rest stays in exactly the same form. Such a strategy is usually used by online stores that operate in their home market, but have international shipping on offer - the option to change the language allows you to see product information and place an order easily and quickly.
Multistore, on the other hand, allows individual stores to even differ significantly from each other (in terms of layout, available modules or currency, delivery methods, terms and conditions, etc.). - as part of, for example, adapting to local markets or a new target group). It also gives the opportunity for each site to use both a language tailored to those living in the country on a daily basis, and a universal language (e.g. English) for those living in the country temporarily and not speaking the local language. This approach helps ensure that all customers have the best possible shopping experience.
It is worth mentioning that if you have a multilingual and multicurrency store, a customized PIM (Product Information Management) can be a special support for your e-business. This type of system allows you to publish up-to-date and comprehensive product information in every sales channel you have, and with the option of automatic translation of product data, it makes it easier to complete sites aimed at foreign customers as well.
Several stores on Magento - one administration panel
What's very important is that Magento 2 - both the open source and Adobe Commerce versions - will allow you to manage all of your online stores from a single dashboard, so you don't have to log in separately each time to stores targeting specific markets. With everything in one place, it will be easier for you to maintain control over how your site looks, no matter what market it's targeted at (as well as respond quickly to country-specific market changes). What's more, you'll be able to make necessary changes to your store's offerings with greater ease - especially since very often new data is duplicated, and adjusting each site separately would simply be cumbersome and consume a disproportionate amount of resources. You will notice similar benefits, for example, when updating or adding new modules and extensions.
It is also important that the data related to sales in each of the available stores is collected in the same place, so that it can be easily analyzed, compared and presented as part of a report (submitted, for example, to the company's board of directors). Thus, the resources required to maintain all the stores created for overseas expansion are reduced to a minimum level.
Into overseas sales with Magento?
There is no doubt that overseas expansion is an important step in the development of your business. Magento, with its numerous functionalities, will allow you to successfully enter foreign markets and conduct sales in a manner tailored to local conditions - both in terms of legal or logistical issues (payment and shipping methods), as well as tailoring to the target audience (which may be characterized by different behavior and shopping habits than customers coming from the same country as you). Combining this sales platform (including appropriately selected modules and integrations) with a strategy based on market research and target group analysis to enter foreign markets is undoubtedly the first step toward success.
Once you've chosen Magento as the platform to launch your overseas expansion, you'll be faced with another dilemma about whether to opt for Magento Open Source or bet on the capabilities offered by Adobe Commerce. Both of these versions of the platform have their pros and cons, and the choice between them should be made according to your needs and business plans. If, on the other hand, you still have doubts whether Magento is definitely the best choice for foreign counterparts of your online store, contact us! We will conduct a proper pre-implementation analysis, allaying your fears and help you make the best decision for your business.
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