Coming to America:Scaling an Online Business

from Local to Global

A Publication of FastSpring®

Commerce in the Global Economy

Table of ContentsIntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Key Considerations for Going Local to Global . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Create a seamless customer experience anytime, anywhere . . . . . . . . .

Start accepting local payment, now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Eliminate need to establish a foreign residency and bank account . . . .

Choosing the Right Payment Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Don’t Understand Mobile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Accept various payment types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

One-click buying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Integrate easily with your existing tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Flexible to your business model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Provide universal support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

About FastSpring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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IntroductionComing to America:Scaling an Online Business from Local to Global

One of the greatest challenges of running an online business is how to reach new customer

bases, including those overseas, with relative ease. As an online merchant, your business

can grow to encompass customers both locally and internationally.

“Going global” means ensuring your current technology and best practices are applied to

your global o�erings. To successfully sell your products or services abroad, the same

customer experience, credibility and brand trust your local customers have come to rely on

are now needed on a global scale.

However, it is crucial to adapt your marketing strategy to target each local market, which isn’t

as simple as applying an existing strategy to new regions. For example, a brand strategy that

works in North America may not resonate in Africa or Asia.

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Establishing your brand in foreign markets while providing a secure payment experience is a

challenging but achievable goal. The key is a flexible platform that lets you automatically display the

local language and currency to your online customers.

Can your customers in Russia, Switzerland and China clearly understand your products, services, and

terms of use? Can you securely accept their rubles, francs and yen with the same confidence that you

accept U.S. dollars?

Thanks to the democratization of online payments, accepting secure payments from around the

world is safer than ever.

With help from FastSpring, we’ve outlined how to conduct commerce globally and accept secure

payments from nearly anywhere in the world.

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Key Considerations for Going Local to GlobalFor businesses not based in the U.S.,

gaining a presence in this market can

be an enticing goal. According to

Statistica, e-commerce revenue during

2015 was highest in the United States,

with a market value of roughly 287

billion U.S. dollars.

Not only does the U.S. have a high

population of people shopping online,

but Statistica has also shown the U.S.

has the highest average e-commerce

revenue per online shopper.

287,392.2

247,036.4

76,106

66,697.9

57,330.2

0 25,000 50,000 75,000 100,000 125,000 150,000 175,000 200,000 225,000 250,000 275,000 300,000 325,000

Revenue in million U.S. dollars

© Statista 2016

United States

China

Japan

United Kingdom

Germany

How Much Online Shoppers Around the World Are Spending

E-commerce revenue in selected countries worldwide in 2015(in million U.S. dollars)

Estimated average e-commerce revenue per online shopper in 2015

United States

United Kingdom

Sweden

France

Germany

Japan

Spain

China

Russia

Brazil

$1,804

$1,629

$1,446

$1,228

$1,064

$968

$849

$626

$396

$350

@StatistaCharts Source: Statista Digital Market Outlook

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Create a seamless customer experience anytime, anywhere.

No matter their language or currency, each customer experience

should be simple, seamless, and flexible. Whether your customer

is in Seattle, Paris, or Moscow, their transaction should be

consistently straightforward and secure. This also means that you,

the business owner, can be paid in USD, even if you are

transacting in GBP or EUR.

A great example of a seamless global payment experience is

Airbnb, for both the host and traveler. A traveler from Boston

staying in London should have the same easy payment

experience whether in the US or the UK. While the Bostonian pays

in USD, the London host is automatically paid in GBP. No hassles,

no headaches.

A seamless experience also means allowing customers to view

prices in their own currency and language while they shop, using

real-time foreign exchange rates

No matter their language or currency, each customer

experience should be simple, seamless, and flexible.

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Flexible pricing is also key. The wider you sell your

products, the more you need to be aware of market

prices and be prepared to make pricing changes

accordingly. For instance, if you sell a product

competitively for £60 in the UK, converting that product

to U.S. dollars results in a product that costs about $90

in the U.S. However, competitors in the U.S. might price

their product at $60, so even though you are pricing in

the local currency, you are not priced competitively and

price conscious shoppers might abandon your site for a

competitor’s. Therefore, you must become familiar with

the markets where you plan to sell.

It’s also essential to make sure your customer’s

experience is optimized for various types of mobile

screens, devices, and user preferences. Nothing kills a

transaction quicker than an unsophisticated user

experience.

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Start accepting local payment, now.

There is a need for speed when it comes to setting up global commerce

and payment platforms. Many online businesses that start in the U.S.

quickly realize that they need to scale to international markets to

maximize opportunity and potential. However, the Internet never sleeps,

and it’s easy to lag behind the competition. To stay ahead of competitors

and corner the market, you must move fast.

Asking your online customers to pay in a way they are not accustomed to

can make them suspicious and creates friction to purchase that will cut

into your revenue. You can make them feel at home by working with what

they know.

Letting your customers pay in their own currency provides a service and

convenience and allows them to move seamlessly from browsing to

buying.

From francs to rupees to euros to rubles to krona, the potential success of

a flexible payment platform is limitless. Solutions like FastSpring can

quickly get merchants of any size set up to securely accept foreign

payments. FastSpring can also improve conversions by displaying your

store in local languages with an IP-based translation function.

Letting your customers pay in

their own currency provides a service and convenience

and allows them to move seamlessly from browsing to

buying.

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Eliminate need to establish a foreign resi-dency and bank account.

Once you’ve established your presence in a foreign market

and proven that you can generate revenue at scale, you

may consider establishing a physical presence as well. The

benefit of a foreign residency is your ability to establish a

related foreign currency bank account, which makes it less

expensive for you to process payments while reducing or

even eliminating foreign exchange fees, which add to your

cost of acquisition. However, it also brings additional costs

such as (tax) accounting, sta� and legal costs.

Working with a company like FastSpring eliminates the

need to establish a foreign residency. You can simply keep

your current legal entity as you grow and enter new

markets.

Showing sales taxes in a way your online customers are

familiar with will avoid suspicion and increase buyer

comfort. There are also legal points, as some countries

have di�erent tax disclosure requirements.

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Choosing the Right Payment SolutionThe rule of thumb when selecting a payment solution that will

deliver a seamless payment experience in global markets is to

make sure that it’s PCI compliant (Payment Card Industry) and

easy to use for both you and your customer. In addition to

accepting foreign currencies, you’ll also want to look for a

payment acceptance solution that incorporates these critical

features:

Don’t Underestimate Mobile.

Recent reports from industry research leaders BI Intelligence and

Forrester Research show a major shift from desktop to mobile.

A BI Intelligence report states that by 2020, mobile commerce

will make up 45% of total e-commerce, equaling $284 billion in

sales. That’s more than three times what’s expected for 2016: BI

Intelligence predicts mobile commerce will hit 20.6 % of overall

e-commerce, or $79 billion.

By 2020, mobile commerce will make up

45% of total e-commerce, equaling

$284 billion in sales.

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Online shopping through web browsers on laptops and PCs still contributes to the majority of online

sales, but mobile devices are eating into that lead at a stunning rate. Despite challenges such as weak

conversion rates and slow download times, the rate of growth of mcommerce sales continues to be

rapid, with Forrester projecting a compound annual growth rate of 17% across smartphones and tablets

in the next five years.

2013 2014 2015E* 2016E* 2017E* 2018E* 2019E* 2020E*

$700

$600

$500

$400

$300

$200

$100

$0

$Bill

ions

FORECAST: Mobile Share of E-CommercePC commerce M-commerce

Source: US Census Bureau, comScore, Statista, BI Intelligence Estimates*

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In 2015, mobile accounted for 35% of overall ecommerce, and its forecasted growth means it will

account for 49% of ecommerce, or $252 billion in sales, by 2020.

Commerce has dramatically altered traditional physical retail, leading to the birth of new

businesses and the death of others that failed e�ectively to sell their products across the web.

Now commerce itself is en route for a major shake-up owing to the proliferation of smartphones

and tablets as each generation becomes more sophisticated and capable than its predecessor.

The rise of mobile commerce means that retailers need to ensure that websites begin life as

mobile sites or are based on responsive web design, whereby the site's content automatically

adjusts to suit the device on which it is being viewed. Companies risk falling behind more

progressive rivals if they ignore the need for a competent mobile shopping experience.

Accept various payment types. There are several ways to accept online payments: debit card,

credit card, wire transfers, digital wallets, mobile carrier payments, crypto currencies, etc. Often

times, the relative subscriber base to these solutions varies wildly depending on the foreign

market. In order to create the widest net and provide yourself with the best opportunity for

monetizing, go with a solution that supports as many trusted payment methods as possible.

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One-click buying. In the late nineties, Amazon pioneered the power of

one-click. Thanks to the confluence of explosive user markets for mobile and

social, and rapidly evolving secure payment technologies, now any merchant

can easily enable one-click buying for web and mobile. This ‘democratization’

of online payments technology has been critical in leveling the playing field for

smaller merchants. The high-end tools that only the big guys used to have are

now at their disposal.

What’s more, streamlining the purchase process has become one of the

biggest di�erentiators in the modern marketplace. Think of the di�erence

between calling a cab versus Uber. With a couple of taps, Uber enables users

to share their location, track their driver, and pay without ever physically

exchanging money or cards in any form.

Integrate easily with your existing tech. Technology should create a better

experience for both you and your customer. It’s tough to get revenue

production in your new market o� to a good start if you’re spending weeks or

months integrating new payment technology. Why put yourself through that

when all you need to do is a few lines of code, or pull in a secure payments

solution from the cloud, and you can accept foreign currencies anywhere.

Simply build on what you have. That kind of thoughtful, easy integration and

out-of-the-box business value is important to growing businesses.

Technology should create a better

experience for both you and your

customer.

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Flexible to your business model. The last few

years have seen an enormous growth in new

business models. The simple transaction model and

associated shopping cart still exists but we have

also seen ‘all-you-can-eat’ consumption models as

well as ‘pay-as-you-go’ and of course the

emergence of ‘the subscription economy’. All these

models impact the way your consumers pay and

the payment methods they can use.

Provide universal support. The online buying

experience you provide to customers, regardless of

where they are in the world, must make them feel

secure enough to trust you with their data – that’s a

given. But what about you, the merchant? If there’s

a technical hiccup, or something you don’t

understand, where are you going to turn? How will

you know if your brand and revenue are safe and

secure? Make sure that your payments solutions

provider has qualified, empowered people on the

other end of a phone or email, available whenever

you may need them.

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ConclusionAre you prepared to stay a step ahead of your competition?

Approximately 73% of Internet users in the United States, representing more than 60% of the

entire population, have purchased products online, according to a recent Statista survey. More

than 61% of those who used the internet to perform such transactions are using a mobile device,

whether a smartphone, tablet computer or other connected devices, a number which is expected

to grow up to almost 80% of all online sales by 2018.

No matter where in the world they are, or on which device, they’ve all come to expect the same

thing: a seamless door-to-door experience.

This means allowing customers to view prices in their own currency and language while they

browse and shop. Prices should be set using real-time foreign exchange rates, and customers

should have various payment options available to them.

Flexible commerce platforms such as FastSpring will quickly get you set up for success by

providing personalized and seamless buying experiences, no matter where your customers are.

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For more information

about FastSpring services

visit www.fastspring.com,

email sales@fastspring.com,

call 1-877-327-8914 (U.S.), or

1-805-409-9008 (Worldwide).

About FastSpringFounded in 2005, FastSpring is a leading e-commerce and subscription management company that

helps thousands of clients, both large and small, sell more of their products worldwide in today’s

challenging online global economy.

With a platform that can work across boundaries and accept more than a dozen currencies with display

options in over 20 languages, FastSpring can handle tax collection, compliance and payment on your

behalf, including management of di�erent Value-Added Taxes (VAT) from around the globe, US state

sales taxes, and more.

FastSpring’s team of experts and award-winning support specialists is available to help make collecting

payments and paying only the appropriate amount of taxes for your valuable goods and services easy

and error-free.