Plan for Global Success: Developing Your Export Plan

Are you exploring going global with your business? A well-crafted export plan is the first step to international business success and lays out the steps needed to fuel your international growth. As you think about expanding your global reach it is important to be flexible and continually measure, assess, and adjust. An export plan acts as a sounding board for your decision to go global. The outline below is meant as a guide for your company’s long-term goals when going international.

Determining Export Potential

More than 95 percent of the world’s consumers and 70% of global purchasing power are outside of the United States, so there is vast potential. If your company is successful in the U.S. market, there is a good chance it will succeed in similar markets abroad. Products with distinct or hard-to-duplicate features are particularly well-positioned for international growth. Leveraging the International Trade Administration’s Market Diversification Tool (https://www.trade.gov/market-diversification-tool), can help identify and compare potential export markets and act as a great first step in your export plan.

Market Considerations

Each international market has unique characteristics and considerations such as regulatory or license requirements that can impact an export plan. In the same sense, your products may require an export license for the sale of certain products abroad. It is imperative to gain an early understanding of these factors to avoid prolonging your export sales cycle. Furthermore, trade agreements with international markets (the United States currently has Free Trade Agreements with 20 countries) provide easier access for U.S. goods by offering advantages such as lower tariffs.

Pricing

The additional costs of exporting and selling your product should be considered in an export plan. Market price, or “landed costs” – the final price of your product in the destination market - can be impacted by items such as duties, taxes, shipping, and marketing. Keep in mind that macroeconomic trends can have sudden positive or negative impacts on the cost of your product abroad. It is important to stay on top of current trends and international news and highlights the need for a flexible export plan that can change with dynamic market conditions.

Management

It can take up to 18-24 months to properly develop a new export market and realize sales. Having management’s support from the outset to develop and implement an export plan will help ensure sufficient company resources remain committed to the effort. Exporting should be a deliberate and strategic long-term growth strategy, and not something that you hope will make quick returns or which can be prioritized or ignored based on domestic sales. The ROI potential is real and often significant – but exporting typically takes dedicated time and effort.

U.S. Commercial Service is Here to Help

In addition to our office here in Pittsburgh, with offices in more than 80 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service is positioned to assist U.S. companies to expand into new markets and grow in existing ones. Our trade professionals, and others in our network, are well-positioned to help you think through your internal readiness assessment and export plan development. Please reach out for our support on your export journey.

- Ryan Russell is Director of the U.S. Commercial Service Pittsburgh Office and can be reached at Ryan.Russell@trade.gov or (412) 644-2817