How can a business in Moldova launch international sales through an online shop? Step-by-step instructions

The Internet is the best way for businesses to enter international markets. Unlike other methods of expansion into foreign markets, it is not necessary to register a legal entity abroad, set up a foreign office, and plan logistics routes and storage space. Here, it is enough to adapt the online shop to foreign customers, and ensure that the order is delivered.

Whereas in the former case, to enter sales in other countries you actually have to launch a new business in an unfamiliar jurisdiction. In the case of e-commerce, starting sales is much easier, more convenient and more cost-effective.

In this article we would like to discuss how a Moldovan company can start international online sales, where to start and what to pay special attention to.

Why can we be trusted?

At the beginning, just a few words about who we are and why we're sure we're talking about online business. We are the Meta Group, and our main speciality is launching turnkey IT startups. We have experience and real cases in different sectors and segments of online business. We've run turnkey projects in France, Switzerland, Germany and many other countries.

We can share with you not only the experience of online start-ups, but also the experience of working in foreign markets. If you have a startup idea, you can consult our experts on how we can help with it. To get a free consultation, you need to leave an application on the homepage.

The minute of self-promotion is over, now let's get to the main topic: Step-by-step instructions on how to start international sales for a company from Moldova.

Step 1: Planning. Defining the sales geography

Any project should always start with detailed planning. This greatly increases the chances of success. When it comes to international sales, the first question to discuss is: In which countries are the sales planned?

All further work on the project depends on the answer.

Legislation

Some countries require the registration of a subsidiary legal entity for domestic sales. Different states have different consumer protection laws and different time limits on returns. Also, your goods may be banned from sale in some countries, or have a legal regulation. This is not necessarily a ban or restriction, nor is it necessarily a bad thing. It may be that in other countries your goods are classified as 'essentials' and cannot be priced above a fixed mark-up.

Of course, before launching, you need to work out the laws of all the countries in which you plan to sell. But there is a way to quickly weed out those jurisdictions that are definitely not suitable.

Aggregated information on bans and legal restrictions on international sales can be found on the websites of global marketplaces such as Amazon and Ebay. The documentation section for sellers describes these restrictions in a very detailed and structured way.

A useful tip: in international online sales, the cost of adding additional countries is relatively low. If the delivery service and payment system (to be discussed later) allow you to accept payment and deliver goods to additional countries that you initially did not count on, it is foolish to turn down this opportunity. So don't limit yourself to the geography of your sales.

Step 2: Choosing a logistics system

In fact, a well-developed international logistics system with warehouses and distribution centres abroad is needed either for large companies with high turnover abroad or for marketplaces that trade in other people's goods and need to ensure fast delivery to the countries of sale.

In all other cases, developing your own logistics system abroad is a very expensive and unprofitable idea. We are writing this article for ordinary companies from Moldova, who hardly have the capital to implement an international logistics network right now, so we consider more modest methods.

The easiest way is to use international delivery services. These can be commercial organisations such as DHL, DPD and others, or even the regular government post office.

The choice is not so obvious, Posta Moldovei has lower tariffs but longer delivery times, the commercial services have the opposite. The best strategy when going international is to diversify delivery methods. Both private and public delivery services can be used at the same time. The buyer can then choose which suits him best:

• Quick but expensive delivery.
• Or cheap, but slow.

When customers have a choice, they are less likely to refuse an order due to unsuitable conditions. Please note that logistics services do not have a flat rate for delivery. The cost depends on the sending and receiving countries, the size of the goods and other variables. Moreover, rates for different categories are subject to revision. In the case of a small product range, it is possible to constantly monitor the logistics rates and change them manually on the website, but it is much more convenient to do automatic data exchange and automatic calculation of delivery costs.

With this approach, the logistics service tariffs are automatically uploaded to the website and periodically updated. The site, with a tariff grid, can automatically calculate the cost of delivery according to the parameters set by customers.

3. Receiving payment

In fact, the solution to this issue is much easier than it appears at first glance. International payment systems that operate simultaneously in many countries can be used to accept payments abroad.

The most popular example is PayPal, but it has quite a few alternatives: Stripe, Payoneer, Payline, TransferWise and many others. These companies provide bank payment processing in a large number of countries and allow you to accept payments in different currencies.

When choosing between payment systems, the following criteria should be taken into account:

• The amount of fees. The higher they are, the higher your payment service costs. A difference of 0.5% to 1% may seem insignificant, but remember that we are talking about a large volume of sales. In that case, the size of the commission will play an important role.
• The number of countries in which the service operates. The more there are, the higher the number of people who will be able to pay online for your products. As we said above, the greater the number of these countries available at no extra cost, the better.
• The number of payment methods available. Some payment operators are limited to Visa and Mastercard only, while others have a wide range of payment methods available, including e.g. Internet wallets. Of course, for the lion's share of users paying via Visa/Mastercard will be sufficient, but for some, having alternatives will be an advantage.
• Hold and chargeback conditions. It is the payment service, not you, in another country who will respond to requests for returns and chargebacks. Naturally, the payment system will insure itself by freezing some of your income for as long as the buyer can request a refund.

There is also an alternative method of accepting payment on international sales. For example, goods can be sold on international marketplaces. In this case both payment acceptance and delivery will be taken care of by the marketplace. However, the size of the marketplace fees may make such sales unprofitable.

4 Adapting the website for international sales

The foreign user must be comfortable using the website:

• First, the language. At a minimum, the website should be translated into English in its entirety, including all product cards. If the sales geography is small, or there are individual countries with a large share of total sales, it makes sense to translate the website into a few more major languages.
• Secondly, the currency. The user should be able to change the main currency of the account to the one that is convenient for him/her. In this case, all prices on the website, including the cost of delivery or other services, should be converted to that currency at the current exchange rate of the payment system. It only makes sense to add currencies that are accepted by the acquiring company.
• Thirdly, other little things. For example, units of measurement. Not all users are comfortable with the decimal number system. If you are planning sales in the UK or the US, everyone there uses other units of measurement they are accustomed to. This also includes size grids for clothing. They are not the same everywhere, so a product description should always include a sizing grid and a comparison with other standards.

Alternatively, several different versions of the site could be made, each adapted to a specific country or region. This will automatically redirect the user to the correct version, depending on the geolocation from which they are logging in.

More detailed recommendations for launching online sales from Moldova can only be given after studying the specific project. Let us remind you that if you are planning to launch online sales abroad, you can get a free consultation from our experts. All you need to do is submit an application on the home page of our website.

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