Five key steps to start exporting overseas

3. Assess if your product is ‘born global’, or best launched in your home country

If you have a new product to market and it can be easily purchased and used by consumers across the globe then it is born global, and you should be exporting from day one.

Products that require significant adaptations for new markets are best launched locally. Many technology products are often born global, meaning they are not restricted to your home market and can be equally marketed across the globe.

Some great examples of ‘born global’ products are:

• Technologies for global industries – technologies for the iron ore and coal mining sectors that increase productivity can be marketed worldwide to mine sites in Australia, China, India and the Americas.

• Any iPad or iPhone app – With Apple’s deep penetration across the globe, a unique product for these devices can go global easily from day one.

• Popular car accessories for models that are exported worldwide and rebadged for different markets.

4. Check your country’s export grants and subsidies

In Australia the EMDG (Export Market Development Scheme) has been administered for a number of years to support Australian business to invest in overseas market development.

The scheme has been extremely popular with Australian exporters for a number of years and helps small to medium-sized businesses travel to international trade shows to secure investors and distributor agreements which they might otherwise not be able to do.

5. Start strategic exporting

Pick one to three countries and work through the following criteria:

• Product adaptation – will you need to change the product to suit customer tastes or market demands?

• Standards and certifications – if your product has a mandatory standard, can you easily achieve that required standard in your target export market?

• Market receptiveness – will consumers in that market understand your product, or will you need to spend resources creating demand?

• Transferability of your competitive advantage – if you have a unique raw material, such as an opal (Australia produces 97% of world opals), you know that it will be unique product and you’re market advantage cannot be easily thwarted.

• Local competition – if local market competition is strong, prices are weak, and you face additional costs to deliver the goods to customers there, then you might want to rethink your strategy.

As an added bonus, check if you can claim back import duties paid.

In Australia, exporters of imported products can claim back any import duty paid to import the goods to Australia (although GST cannot be reclaimed).

The duty drawback scheme is administered by Australian Customs and requires an Export Declaration Number (EDN) as evidence of export.

While the minimum claim per application is $100, over the period of a year, small sporadic exports can easily exceed this amount and result in a very welcome return of duty.

Sporadic exporting can be done from day one with an online eCommerce store that is export capable.

Generally, unless you have a ‘born global’ product you should start selling to and developing your home market first, before strategic exporting.

Strategic exporting is visiting export markets and spending resources to develop the market.