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EXPORT
| Issue #20
EDA Office of Foreign Trade • Riverside County, California • USA
event, does as much as 70% of
its sales outside the United States
via a web site. John McCarthy,
their director of marketing, said
“
Initially our company realized
that competition for our type
products was so stiff in the
U.S. that it made more sense
to develop a global market
strategy.” Several million in sales
later, they were glad they did.
Clearly the goal of these seminars
was to debunk some of the
misinformation that prevents
companies from considering
exporting: the ideas, for example,
that exporting is only for large,
well-financed companies,
that U.S. products, because
of manufacturing cost, could
not possibly be competitive in
global markets, that traditional
ways of reaching foreign
markets is too expensive or
the risks of not getting paid by
foreign buyers is too high.
These seminars brought out
strategies that addressed all
of these myths. Several of the
presenting companies pointed
out that U.S. manufactured
products are in high demand
around the world and that a U.S.
‘
brand’ meant quality. The same
quality control that ensures a safe
product for a demanding U.S.
public means a world class quality
abroad. A home based company
demonstrated how he built his
company to over $250,000 in
sales over the internet in just
3
years with modest “startup
costs”, selling Turkish coffee and
related products to over twenty
countries. Another company was
selling over $400,000 worth
of tractors and trailers each
month from its internet site,
shipping these overseas and
having no trouble getting paid.
Another message was also made
crystal clear. Several countries
are ahead of the U.S. in knowing
how to reach U.S. markets versus
our U.S. companies knowing
how to reach markets globally.
For example, Alibaba, a Chinese
internet company with over 500
million users, had their regional
market representative at this
seminar, explaining how they
can help a company market their
products worldwide and said
“
we want all your products on
our website”. Alibaba in 2012
boasted over $163 billion in
transactions, more than Amazon,
and E-bay put together. Amazon
and Ebay, American companies,
