Digital Export for Expanding to America

The optimal digital export strategy for the American market is a combination of digital research and personal contact

What is Digital Export? Is there a single definition? Does it work in the USA? How to adapt the dynamics of Digital Export to the American market. The American market has strong peculiarities and the various forms of Digital Export need to take these into account to be effective.

There is a lot of talk about Digital Export, but is there a single definition? Depending on the situation, we've noticed that this term is used to describe very different scenarios. For example:

• Online B2C Sales
  In this case, the company sells directly to the end customer. Shipments can originate from Italy or from a warehouse in America. Either way, this form of export is more of an e-commerce sale rather than a form of export.
• Online B2B Sales
  Here, the company sells online to distributors or end customers, but in this case, they belong to an industrial sector. For example, an industrial valve manufacturer selling to a distributor or an installer. This purchasing method is very common in America, but this mode of sale is essentially an online sale.
• Using various online tools to determine which markets to target.
  For instance: https://marketfinder.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en_us/discovery/
  Here, we are still in a very preliminary research phase before actual exporting. So it’s very "digital" but still not much "Export"
• Searching for potential importers or distributors for the USA, or American end customers, through specialized platforms.
  Here, we are already getting closer to export activities in the sense that to export and sell, I must first find potential customers or distributors for the American market.
• Participating in online auctions for the supply of products or services
  We believe this is the true activity of Digital Export: where the digital tool enables an actual sale, a real export activity. However, if we define exporting as an activity that allows the Italian company to establish roots in the American market [in our case], or to internationalize with a long-term horizon, then maybe even this mode of Digital Export is certainly "digital" but perhaps not true "export" in and of itself.

The digital approach helps find potential counterparts: distributors, importers, or end customers. Personal contact creates the working relationship and, ultimately, export and sales

The old saying "PEOPLE BUY FROM PEOPLE" is always relevant [even better: "PEOPLE BUY FROM PEOPLE THEY LIKE"] How then does the need for personal contact reconcile with an export form that utilizes digital interaction dynamics? If "people buy from people THEY LIKE," what role does this axiom leave for Digital Export, at least for the United States?

In our experience, we believe that digital is indispensable for finding interesting counterparts but that personal contact is essential for establishing a profitable working relationship. Before even starting to talk about work, it is necessary to qualify each of the identified counterparts:

• Are the identified distributors the right ones for my product? In terms of experience, operational methods, target audience...
• What advantages can my product offer the potential American distributor?
• Who is the right person to speak with within the identified organization?

Without personal contact, these are all elements that are impossible to verify. And this is just the first step because then it is necessary to present the product and determine if there is genuine interest from the potential American customer.

ExportUSA has an internal specialist with 20 years of experience in researching distributors and clients in America and, above all, in contacting and presenting products. These are highly professional sales techniques that cannot be improvised.

Anyone can find the names of potential customers in America. Contacting them and presenting the product optimally is not for everyone and requires deep knowledge of sales techniques, culture, working methods, and commercial practices in America.

With nearly 30 years of sales experience in the American market, it has the capability and resources to help Italian companies find and contact distributors, importers, and customers to successfully export to America.

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