in this issue
Final Taste of International
Sales
This is the last in our series
regarding overseas sales. Our purpose was to give you
a taste of the international options and markets,
certainly it is a vast opportunity and filled with
unknowns. Due to the unknowns involved, we have
utilized a well travelled road through our agent
Global Source Marketing, Inc. and their overseas
contacts. All of these contacts are in-country
marketers and businesses who live and work where they
operate.
We have made it priority to avoid the "ugly
American syndrome" and our efforts have paid off for
our clients over the years. The process is simple:
negotiate a workable price for your product, offer
your product (including all of the vital details)
through our agent, take advantage of interested
parties international TV tests, sell product to
successful overseas distributors on a cash and carry
basis, no returns/media/or business infrastructure to
deal with, the opportunity exists in over 49 countries
around the world.
Next week's newsletter will take us back to the
step-by step process of launching and growing a DRTV
marketing campaign. Our focus has been on
international sales because those efforts can be
launched SIMULTANEOUSLY with your domestic media
product offer tests and roll-out. We are going to
"back- up" and look at the next step in your domestic
efforts. The last newsletter Issue 21:Managing Your
Most Precious Asset will be our starting point.
Issue
21:Managing Your Most Precious Asset
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| Dear
Reader,
We have asked Global Source Marketing, Inc.
to give us a view of how other froms of
distribution works in most countries. This
discourse is in a question and answer format.
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Print Can Be King
Question: What other ways (besides DRTV) do
marketers sell products overseas? Answer: In the
past most marketers used TV alone, but the
market has matured. Many countries use the US
model in testing and rolling out products, but
there are exceptions. Internationally catalogues
are very popular, so people will save them and
shop using them regularly. There are a select
group of countries (advanced marketing skills)
such as the U.K. where they use print first,
even prior to TV.
Question: What kind of sales volume can you
expect if your product sells well overseas?
Answer: Overseas sales can far exceed US sales,
because you are including the entire world (over
49 countries). You can not single out any one
country as comparable to the US, the closest
would be Japan.
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Monopolizing Retail
Question: Is it tougher to get your products on
the retail shelves overseas? Why? Answer: It is
much harder. There are fewer stores compared to
the US and therefore much less shelf space. If
the product is selling well then space will be
alloted. Overseas retail is unique because you
will usually find only 2 products offered in the
same category-unlike the US which offers
numerous choices per category. A strong selling
product can be knocked off (change the name),
and now you can sell both named products thereby
completely dominating retail shelves.
Question: Have you seen radio sales overseas?
Answer: We have not seen successful direct
response radio projects. The US has thousands of
stations, but overseas there are handfuls. Radio
and retail are limited- print has the greatest
exposure next to TV. Because of this you will
not find a direct marketing business in every
single country-rather these overseas partners
will serve 2-3 countries along with regions.
Question: What kind of retail outlets exist
overseas? Answer: The retail outlets are limited
and underdeveloped compared to the US, however
there is a growth towards US based Malls
internationally. Mom and Pop stores are one
source of sales, but print, TV, and home
shopping are just as dominate for selling as
retail. The retail that does exist is very well
trafficked.
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Live Demonstrations
Question: What about live sales, promotions, or
live events? Answer: There are numerous
"flea-market" types of events overseas,
especially in Europe. In Belgium we were
affiliated with a creative marketer who use to
buy product from us, set up a live demonstration
booth in front of a mall, sell the product to
the stores in the mall, demonstrate the product
to customers and then send the customers into
the mall to actually buy the product. He would
sell 12,000 units in one day!
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