NEW YORK, NY - Last Friday's Wall Street Journal had a nice article about US online retailers trying to develop foreign markets in an effort to assuage (a $3 word) the effects of a softening domestic retail market.
The WSJ notes that the challenges of selling online to foreign markets include taxes, duty, distribution, and language. Fair enough. I have lived and worked abroad three times, and international markets can be a bear to scope and develop.
So it goes with online retailers: In 2007 I managed a search for a west coast distributor of motorcycle replacement parts, and the firm's owner told me that the American market for motorcycle parts is seasonal. So to counteract the effects of that seasonality, the company developed a number of markets in the southern hemisphere. Remember, it's hot in Chile when it's chilly up here. This is called counter-seasonality (another $3 word).
Development of these markets was hit-or-miss. Columbia was a disaster, fraught with deadbeats and returned orders. Australia, on the other hand, was a home run. The company took a portfolio approach to developing those markets and judged their success on an annual basis. That was smart.
The client and I never discussed his international staffing objectives. I'm sure we will eventually. And until we do, I'm learning quite a bit lately.
The benefits of a global readership: I have received roughly two dozen European resumes in the last 60 days, and about about to close my first ever international search. A very famous European sports brand has an ecommerce position open in Amsterdam, and I was summoned to help. What an adventure for the ecommerce executive who will fill that role!
Here's the reason for my post: Foreign resumes are very different from American resumes. None of the usual online retailing keywords are listed. Much is lost in translation. One fellow who had gotten an MBA from INSEAD reached out to me. INSEAD is the Harvard Business School of Europe -- and one of the best b-schools in the world. But how many US recruiters know that?
One candidate sent me a resume that was in Italian from start to finish. Maybe he was an ecommerce rock star. I couldn't tell, nor did I have the time to paste his resume into Babelfish to get a better idea.
Exciting times. Weak dollar. Increasing bandwidth. And the world loves American brands.
I can't wait.
Harry
PS - Sam Decker of BazaarVoice and I had a fun exchange on his blog last month regarding the need for "Supply chain literate" marketing VPs in online retail. Wait until those supply chain issues become international! The Ecommerce Times has an interesting article on fulfillment earlier this week. And there's more to come, I'm sure.
PSS - Online retailers, subscribe now to the world's greatest logistics blog.
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