International Business and Technology Blog

IBT Online is thrilled to announce a significant milestone in our continued journey empowering American companies to grow their exports, sales, brands, and businesses internationally. Tuesday, November 21st, 2023, (just in time for Thanksgiving!) marked the official signing of our Strategic Partnership with the US Commercial Services International Trade Administration (US CS ITA). This collaboration represents a further pivotal step in our commitment to helping America’s exporters as they expand their global reach and thrive in international markets.

In today's global marketplace, ecommerce has become a vital channel for American exporters to reach international customers.

To help American businesses thrive in the digital age, IBT Online offers cutting-edge ecommerce WooCommerce Programs. Let's explore how these programs can revolutionize your export strategy and unlock new opportunities for growth.

1. The Power of Ecommerce:Ecommerce has transformed the way businesses operate, enabling them to connect with customers worldwide. IBT Online's Ecommerce WooCommerce Programs harness the power of this digital revolution, empowering American exporters to tap into global markets and drive sales online.

IBT Online's services can benefit a wide range of American exporters, but certain types of exporters may particularly benefit from their expertise. These include:

1. SMEs often have limited resources and may lack the in-house expertise to navigate the complexities of international online marketing. IBT Online's services can provide SMEs with cost-effective solutions to establish their online presence, reach target markets, and compete with larger players.

2. Exporters targeting multiple markets: Exporters who are targeting multiple foreign markets can benefit from IBT Online's expertise in website localization and digital marketing. IBT Online can help these exporters create localized websites and implement tailored digital marketing strategies for each target market, ensuring effective communication and engagement with potential customers in different regions.

In most countries, more than half of internet users buy online at least once a week. In Canada, 51% shop online while in the USA it is 57%, and in places like Thailand, Mexico, Singapore, it is well above 60%. In this blog we look at how companies can leverage ecommerce platform Shopify to grow their brands and sales internationally.

Going global poses specific challenges beyond the obvious logistic issues: how does your international buyer persona find you and how do you engage and create the buying experience needed to ensure carts go right through to the purchase across different markets?

Going global means going local: maximising Shopify’s capabilities, combined with precision online marketing and local market expertise, ensures your brand is easy to find, connects with your local buyer persona and builds the trust you need to get purchases over the payment line.

As an official Shopify Partner, IBT Online helps our clients leverage Shopify to go global - read on to see how.

Vapor Pin Enterprises, Inc. patented the Vapor Pin®, which allows environmental professionals a means of collecting high-quality, low-cost soil gas samples within minutes. Vapor Pin was seeking to grow their brand internationally and identified as their first target market. Vapor Pin recognized that website localization can give your business a competitive advantage, helping your brand stand out in a crowded digital landscape. This task can also appear daunting to many companies as it requires market expertise and digital skills that might not be available in-house. For this reason, Vapor Pin called upon IBT Online to help them achieve their exporting objectives. IBT Online was proud to launch a best-practice, localized business development Brazilian ecommerce website as well as a targeted online marketing strategy to accompany it.

Localizing websites is more than translating a few pages – it involves deep local knowledge, wide technical experience and strong locally-based search engine optimization skills. Ecommerce plug-ins also need to be suited to the local market, taking into account local payment habits, safety and compliance regulations. For Brazilian ecommerce, according to Vice-President Laurie A. Chilcote, “We need to get online in this market”. It was the right time to call in IBT Online to ensure the Brazilian website was launched on-time and on-budget with a full ecommerce platform and online marketing strategy to power up sales.

Given the success of the localized website and strategic marketing efforts in Brazil, Vapor Pin endeavoured to further invest into launching ecommerce websites in other international target markets. As Laurie expresses: "If you want to grow your brand and expand into markets, IBT Online is the company to help you achieve those goals."

Social media is a fantastic way to boost your brand awareness and grow your sales in Mexico. Mexican consumers and businesses are reactive and engaged online: post great relevant content and watch it ricochet around your target prospect base! On top of that, online marketing prices are reasonable compared to many other large markets. So, if you get your social media and online marketing right, the return on investment for brand awareness and the sales that can go with it, are rapid. Below we share some of our insights to the Mexican online world that we use as international marketers to help our clients build their brand, sales and business in Mexico. 

The world wide web was invented 30 years ago and in just one generation has spread to every corner of the Earth and even beyond. The United Nations is debating including access to the web as a fundamental human right. But the risks of the web’s ubiquity are also increasingly clear. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the greatest challenge so far for companies as they scramble to tame their wild west websites. At the core of GDPR is the recognition that online personal data has a value. Who owns it and how should it be treated?

The Florida Online Global (FOG) program has delivered for Avionics Support Group year on year export sales, business and brand growth. In 2017, ASG benefited from their first 2 online global websites in China and Mexico. Returns were rapid, proving a huge export success and ASG followed up with websites for Japan, Brazil, the UAE and Russia. Exports have grown by almost $5 million over this time frame.

Farécla Products Limited (Farécla) had decided to invest in a website for one of their most important export markets, China. But the website was not localized or optimized for the Chinese market. The contents had been translated into Chinese characters but without background expertise in how Chinese websites actually function or how to connect with prospective Chinese customers: the website was not fit for purpose. Management began reviewing possible solutions with IBT Online and we are proud to have helped Farécla build a great Chinese online platform for doing business: a fully localized, optimized and functioning website that acts as a springboard for social media, online marketing, ecommerce – in line with the company’s strategy to grow their sales, brands and businesses in China.

Renowned for its technology and ability to deliver, Ocean Optics has every reason to be confident of its global success. To make sure the Ocean Optics brand is showcased at its best, management decided to invest in its online footprint. As a Florida exporter, the company took advantage of the innovative Florida Online Global Program and in mid-2018, Ocean Optics boasted its first 2 fully localized websites for target export markets; Mexico and Brazil. IBT Online is proud to have helped them get online globally.

With headquarters in Florida, Ocean Optics was eligible for Enterprise Florida’s Online Global Program. As a public-private partnership, Enterprise Florida Inc. (EFI) is the principal economic development organization for the state. Working with IBT Online, EFI initiated an innovative program to help Florida companies with global ambitions get the right sales and marketing tools: international, fully localized websites and social media marketing.