basic-guide-to-exporting_Latest_eg_main_086196

global GDP and 30 percent of global trade. These agreements, if ratified, will joinagreements already in place, including the North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA) and the Central America and Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement(CAFTA-DR). More than reducing the duties on imported goods by member countriesand thus making these products cheaper for consumers, the agreements alsogenerate additional business opportunities by strengthening intellectual propertyprotections, simplifying regulations, opening up the service sectors and governmentcontracting procedures, and generally treating foreign companies the same asdomestic companies. For more information on free trade agreements see ourpublication Free Trade Agreements: 20 Ways to Grow Your Business (International TradeAdministration, 2013).If you have a web presence, you have a global marketing and order-taking platform.For a few more dollars, you can process credit card payments for buyers in Australiaor translate key pages into Spanish and other languages to further your reach. Duringthe next few years, worldwide B2C e-commerce is projected to nearly double to$2.2 trillion with the fastest growth in the Asia-Pacific. You’ll want to be in the gameas sales soar.Do You Want More Sales Channels?Online B2B and B2C marketplaces offer virtual storefronts and a ready-made globalarmy of shoppers. They also offer payment solutions, and you can choose a shipperthat will take care of the required documentation for you. The shippers want tohelp make things easier too, and many offer international business advice, freightforwarding and customs brokerage services, cost calculators, and in some cases,financing. Plus, they’ll pick up goods and documents from your back door anddeliver them to almost any address in the world. And you can track everything ontheir website. Some e-commerce platforms will arrange to ship your goods to one ormore of their fulfillment warehouses located in major commercial centers around theworld. As items are sold and shipped quickly to buyers, you can restock the goodsby sending larger quantities to the fulfillment centers, generally at less cost thanshipping one item at a time from your place of business in the United States.Want even more sales channels? If web-based marketing and sales are insufficientto meet your sales growth appetite, you can attend trade shows in the United Stateswhere buyers from around the world come to purchase U.S. goods and services.Show organizers will facilitate introductions to the buyers, working with agenciesof the U.S. government to provide matchmaking services on the show floor. Thesesame government agencies can arrange for you to attend shows in other countries,where the connections and influence of your embassy network can save you timeand money generating new business. Government agencies can find buyers for youand arrange introductions in more than 100 countries. Call this service “customizedbusiness matchmaking.”2U.S. Commercial Service • A Basic Guide to Exporting