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Today, it’s easier than ever for a company
like yours, regardless of size, to sell goods and services across the globe.
Small and medium-sized companies in the United States are exporting more than
ever before. In 2013, more than 300,000 small and medium-sized U.S. companies
exported to at least one international market—nearly 28 percent more than in
2005, the year in which the 10th Edition of this book was first published. In
2013, the value of goods and services exports was an impressive $2.28 trillion,
nearly a 25 percent increase since 2010. And 2014 topped the previous year, with
exports valued at $2.34 trillion.
Additional Reasons to Explore or Expand Exporting
Global trade in goods and services is
likely to grow in the future. The new World Trade Agreement on trade
facilitation that was introduced at the end of 2013 and renegotiated in 2014
will reportedly add $1 trillion to the global gross domestic product (GDP) once
it is fully implemented. This agreement compels the World Trade Organization (WTO)
members to improve customs procedures and cut regulatory red tape, speeding the
flow of goods and services across borders and reducing the costs involved. The
U.S. government will create a “single window” system that has some of the same
benefits and efficiencies as the WTO effort.
The United States is in an advanced stage of negotiating trade agreements with
the European Union and countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including the large
market of Japan. Together, these markets represent 50 percent of total global
GDP and 30 percent of global trade. These agreements, if ratified, will join
agreements already in place, including the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) and the Central America and Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).
More than reducing the duties on imported goods by member countries and thus
making these products cheaper for consumers, the agreements also generate
additional business opportunities by strengthening intellectual property
protections, simplifying regulations, opening up the service sectors and
government contracting procedures, and generally treating foreign companies the
same as domestic companies.
If you have a web presence, you have a
global marketing and order-taking platform. For a few more dollars, you can
process credit card payments for buyers in Australia or translate key pages into
Spanish and other languages to further your reach. During the next few years,
worldwide B2C e-commerce is projected to nearly double to $2.2 trillion with
the fastest growth in the Asia-Pacific. You’ll want to be in the game as sales
soar.
US Total Annual Exports (US Trillions,
2010-14)
Year |
Value |
Increase % |
2009 |
1.570 |
|
2010 |
1.831 |
16.6% |
2011 |
2.103 |
14.9 |
2012 |
2.216 |
5.4 |
2013 |
2.280 |
2.9 |
2014 |
2.345 |
2.9 |
Source US Census Bureau
Online B2B and B2C marketplaces offer
virtual storefronts and a ready-made global army of shoppers. They also offer
payment solutions, and you can choose a shipper that will take care of the
required documentation for you. The shippers want to help make things easier
too, and many offer international business advice, freight forwarding and
customs brokerage services, cost calculators, and in some cases, financing.
Plus, they’ll pick up goods and documents from your back door and deliver them
to almost any address in the world. And you can track everything on their
website. Some e-commerce platforms will arrange to ship your goods to one or
more of their fulfillment warehouses located in major commercial centers around
the world. As items are sold and shipped quickly to buyers, you can restock the
goods by sending larger quantities to the fulfillment centers, generally at less
cost than shipping one item at a time from your place of business in the United
States.
Want even more sales channels? If web-based marketing and sales are insufficient
to meet your sales growth appetite, you can attend trade shows in the United
States where buyers from around the world come to purchase U.S. goods and
services. Show organizers will facilitate introductions to the buyers, working
with agencies of the U.S. government to provide matchmaking services on the show
floor. These same government agencies can arrange for you to attend shows in
other countries, where the connections and influence of your embassy network can
save you time and money generating new business. Government agencies can find
buyers for you and arrange introductions in more than 100 countries. Call this
service “customized business matchmaking.”
Channels can include:
- Direct to end-user
- Distributors in country
- Supplier to the U.S. government in a
foreign country
- Your e-commerce website
- A third-party e-commerce platform where
you handle fulfillment
- A third-party e-commerce where they
handle fulfillment
- Supplier to a large U.S. company with
international sale
- Franchise your business.
You are not limited to one of these
channels. Today’s global trading system is ideal for the smaller company
employing more than one marketing and sales channel to sell into multiple
overseas markets. But most U.S. exporters currently sell to one country
market—Canada, for example. And the smaller the company, the less likely it is
to export to more than one country. For example, 60 percent of all exporters
with fewer than 19 employees sold to one country market in 2005.