subject: Even A Small Business Can Stand Astride The World With Effective Couriers [print this page] In times gone by, businesses used to decide which geographical areas they wished to trade in, and set out to attract all the trade they could from within that area, without giving any thought to how they could serve potential customers from outside that catchment area.
In many cases, this was because firms operating in the same business sector in neighbouring towns and cities had such a tight stranglehold on their local market that there was little point in spending time and money in trying to persuade their customers that a company from further afield could serve their needs better.
Today, though, such boundaries are less tangible than they have ever been, and we can thank the internet for this.
A good product will usually sell almost anywhere in the world, and the only limitation on its ability to do that is often the imagination of the company which makes or sells it.
Of course it's true that potential customers have to expect longer lead times when they place an order for goods from a company outside their own country but conversely, by looking outside their own territory it is often possible for someone in the market for a particular product to find it on sale more cheaply.
In many instances, it is even the case that product availability is confined to particular territories perhaps because of limitations on how many the manufacturer can produce. But that isn't to say that it is impossible to circumvent such restrictions with a little know-how.
The days when sending goods overseas could simply be dismissed as 'too much trouble' have almost certainly gone, especially as a merchant can now quickly and easily find an international delivery company willing to transport their goods to wherever there is the demand.
Many online traders react with surprise to the geographical spread across which interest in their goods is shown, but rather than seeing delivering such goods as a challenge, they should regard it as an opportunity. After all, word-of-mouth works just as effectively in spreading awareness about a company and its products, no matter what the language used.
In fact, businesses of all sizes can today afford to have very broad ambitions when it comes to where their goods are sold. It might even be a good idea to appoint local agents in several countries who can act as forwarders, and liaise with people in their country which might even be a springboard to success on a scale which could only have been dreamed of.
