International Business and Technology Blog

You might be working with a web agency that is very artistic and design oriented, focusing on developing your brand. Or you might be working with a web agency that is more results oriented, focusing on search engine optimization and driving visitors to the site. In the best case, your web agency can offer you both - unique custom design and a superior website performance. The best agencies specify website features based on your requirements and those of your website’s users. They create great online platforms, supporting and driving your sales in your home market. Market, which both you and your web agency know very well.

But what about your export markets? Does your local web agency have the right skillsets to create and market your international websites and thus grow your business equally successfully abroad?

Our blog How to sell online in Germany introduced the attractiveness of the German ecommerce market and outlined the main expectations of German e-shoppers, including payment methods, delivery, returns, mobility, personalization and terms & policies. Today, we will have a closer look at the theme of German online payment methods.

According to the German E-Commerce and Distance Selling Trade Association (bevh) study, the most popular online payment method preferred by 39% of German e-shoppers are online payment services. Besides the international platform PayPal there are many local online payment service providers such as Sofortüberweisung.de, ClickandBuy and Giropay that are well known and have a significant market share of the online payment services.

In my last blog I cover 3 strategies for optimizing your tradeshow preparation. In this blog I will cover 4 strategies for success during and after the tradeshow.

1. Connect with prospects during the show to maximize your presence
2. Qualify and prioritize your leads
3. Follow up to convert leads into clients and build long term pipelines
4. Measure return on investment and incorporate lessons learned

Two prior blogs have explored general steps to take in preparing for International Trades Shows and making the most during and after the trade show. In this blog, I explore using your website to enhance results from your trade show investments

Next to your company website, trade show participation may be the most important part of your marketing mix. Even “Personal selling” comes in behind trade shows. Today, trade fairs remain as crucial to business development as ever, despite fears that the internet would replace those vital face to face meetings. 

It’s all about the user – whether that user is German, English, French, Italian or Estonian - any of the 500+ million European citizens from one of the 51 countries, speaking (and reading) dozens of languages. In the European Union (EU) alone we have 28 countries and 24 officially recognized languages. It is therefore not surprising that corporations seeking to grow their exports and business in European markets face significant challenges. An online strategy, fit for purpose, is an essential element for success in Europe and that strategy has to focus on your specific targeted profiles who first have to easily find your website site (through the plethora of search engines) and then use it, knowing that today’s users demand localized, relevant content.

European apples and pears for the USA - Draft rule paves the way for EU exports of apples and pears to the US! This is a  great example of what goes on behind the headlines in negotiations between the European Union and the Unites States of America regarding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The TTIP negotiations kicked off in 2013 and so far 11 rounds have taken place, the last one in Miami in October 2015. The EU request to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to simplify market access for fruit growers, covers only eight EU Member States (Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Portugal).

Trade shows are an important component of the marketing mix. A recent survey of 500 companies found that 83% listed trade shows as the 2nd most important “tool” in the marketing mix after the corporate website’s home page.

In this blog I cover 3 beginning strategies for getting the most out of your trade shows.

1. Define and communicate clear objectives and metrics, including clear lines of responsibility and reward
2. Identify the right trade show to achieve your international business objectives
3. Prepare – broadcast your presence via multi-channels throughout the year

"Digital Minds for a New Europe" is an excellent collection of 44 extremely well informed articles concerning, you guessed it, Digital and Europe (two subjects about which I care strongly), both subjects holding much promise for a better future. Leading and diverse “digital minds” from the political, academic and business worlds share with us their vision to “boost a new digital Europe”.

I give this work a serious like (two thumbs up). Start by reading the excellent Foreword by one of Europe’s true heroines’ Neelie Kroes (more on Ms Kroes below). Kroes thanks the crowd-sourced contributors and takes us back in time (a century ago, through world wars, and a quick technology recap…)  to introduce us to the near future (“we are entering a whole interconnected, data-driven universe”).

Waxing rather lyrical, Kroes warns us “New seeds will not sprout, nor saplings grow, if they have to fight for survival in the shades of old – but respected – trees and if they are surrounded by dense forests of regulation and hampered by persisting European fragmentation”. This tells us where the compilation is going. Indeed, from the vantage point of Digital Commissioner, as she was, Kroes understands better than most, the challenges ahead for Digital Europe, and warns us: “Adapt or die”.  

Watch the “The Great European Disaster Movie”, a wakeup call for everyone, portraying Europeans “sleepwalking towards disaster”. Take a few minutes for yourself, relax, click here, get on board enjoy, learn, get worried and wake up to The Great European Disaster Movie.

Today the European Union (EU) comprises 28 of the world's freest democratic countries, >500 million well educated and wealthy consumers, arguably the world's largest economy with >$17.65 trillion, >21 million successful small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and many more millions of businesses that benefit hugely from their trade with and invest in Europe.

Yet the four founding freedoms (the free movement of goods, capital, services and people) of the EU project is under extreme social and political threat. If, as I do, you believe that these freedoms boost economic growth, make the everyday life of consumers and businesses easier, that they promote cultural exchange, mutual recognition and respect, societal integration and peace, then you must actively support this European project. 

The European Union (EU) Delegation to the United States just published another “eu matters” entitled “Partners of Choice in a Complex World” looking at i) the scale of the EU-US economic relationship and ii) the many areas where the US and EU partner to confront global challenges.

Concurrently, diligently in the background, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiation teams are preparing for the next round of negotiations, scheduled for early 2016. Cecilia Malmström, EU Trade Commissioner stated, “We want to use trade agreements to set ambitious and binding standards, to address global challenges such as protecting the environment and labour rights in a globalised world”. Proposals are being put forward on a range of issues including collaboration with the International Labor Organization (ILO) to implement strong labor standards, combat illegal logging, fishing and other transnational environmental issues, limiting the use of antibiotics in animal production to help combat antibiotic resistance as well as the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) chapter of TTIP that would establish a Committee on SME issues.