CS28310 International Trading

The Opportunity  Level Playing Ground –SME looks like Multi-National  Vast Markets –Global  Speed to Market –Used to be years –Now months

Pitfalls  Payments –Not all companies want to use credit cards –Banking Arrangements –Exchange rate variations –Escrow  Cost of Transportation –Can get high. Sea cheaper than air. –Risky

Agents  If in existence –Keep or remove  Keep –Local knowledge –Local customs  Remove –They may work against you –Cheaper

Exporting  Do you know about? –Local taxes –Local laws –Language –Local trading practices

Some gaffes  When Kentucky Fried Chicken entered the Chinese market, to their horror they discovered that their slogan "finger lickin' good" came out as "eat your fingers off”.  Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick“, a curling iron, into Germany only to find out that "mist" is slang for manure.

Cultural Differences  Language –The world speaks more than one language!! –Use of first names –Use of “you” versus old English “thou” –Use of titles – Mr, Doctor, Engineer etc  Religion –Really need to learn to respect differences –Dress codes (especially for women)

 Good manners –Shaking hands, bowing, dress codes –Eating and drinking –Business cards  Visit UK Government web sites for information

CS28310 Affiliate programs

 Advertisements  Adsense  Affiliate Programs

Affiliate Programs  Two Levels  Main Supplier - Merchant –E.g. Amazon (started affiliates in 1996) –Pays, say, 15%  Affiliate –Small web site owner (One of 900,000) –Places special link to Amazon –40% of sales through affiliates and 3 rd party sellers

Payments  Pay-per-sale –Here the merchant site pays an affiliate when the affiliate sends them a customer who buys something.  Some pay-per-sale schemes pay on a percentage of the sale and others pay a fixed amount per sale  Pay-per-lead –These programs pay the affiliate based on the number of visitors they refer who sign up as leads  i.e. the visitor fills out some requested information using a form at the merchant site, which may then be used as a sales lead

Benefits  Merchant gets higher traffic  Affiliate gets payment for running site  All relationships require management systems…

Management  How many people clicked on the advertising link to the merchant’s site  How many people bought something on the merchant’s site  How many people saw the advertising link on the affiliate site

Systems  Merchant run affiliate program –Amazon  Affiliate network –Commission Junction Commission JunctionCommission Junction

Checks 1  The company (merchant) –Are they reputable and financially sound? –Do they offer assistance with promotion? –Will you get paid?  Compatibility with your site – –Do the products/services match the content of your site –Will your visitors be interested in them?  Opportunity for earnings –Difficult to earn reasonable revenue from one-time purchases –Earn commission from your referred customers on an ongoing basis is more profitable

Checks 2  Commission structure –Compare different programs/commission structures. –Also check the frequency of payment –Minimum commission you have to earn before you receive a payment;  Free to join – –it is usually free to join most programs so be wary any that charge a fee, many of these are scam

Finally  Revenue –5% - 15% books –5% - 7% electronics –Some as low as 1% !! –Credit Cards best – fixed fee  Too many affiliates per site may be messy  Concentrate on Visitors