Expanding Online:Translating your Brand for Overseas Markets

September 2014Kiyan Foroughi – CEO & Co-Founder

Background: Boticca

• Boticca is the world’s online destination for jewellery, bags and fashion accessories made by carefully sourced independent designers and small & medium brands from across the world

• Some facts & figures:– 300 brands from 40+ different

countries – Over 10,000 different pieces for

sale on the website– Nearly 700,000 email subscribers– Curated marketplace business

model – Customers in 60 different countries

on a monthly basis– Websites in UK, US, France and

Australia– Launch in September 2010 and

venture-backed

#boticca

Background: Who am I?

• Kiyan Foroughi: CEO and Founder of Boticca

• 3rd generation in the jewellery industry (4th generation in luxury)

• Early career in investment banking (Jefferies) and private equity (TA Associates)

• Active angel investor and advisor in such companies as Ometria, Boppl, PayPlug, Watsi, Fotolia and AVG Technologies

• Tufts University Graduate – (BA) Economics & Entrepreneurial Leadership

• Have lived in Boston, New York and London & grew up between Paris and Dubai

• Speak fluent French, Italian, Farsi and English – learning Japanese

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Why Expand Overseas?

• Some of the reasons are obvious:– Ambition– Growth– Product / market fit

• And some are less obvious:– Skilled personnel– Taking advantage of technology

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When Is The Right Time?

• When you’ve achieved critical mass in one market and are looking for growth in the next

• When you’ve demonstrated some traction and potential in a market and you’re looking to capitalise on it

• When you have the internal resources and bandwidth

• When you have the budget to do it properly

Beware if you don’t satisfy the last two points, you can seriously waste time, resources and funds on an unsuccessful

expansion

#boticca

Doing the Research: How to Pick the Right Market

• Product + market fit

• Competitive analysis

• Attractive market size and potential

• Similar buying patterns and philosophy

• Clear formulaic marketing channels that can be scaled and will be profitable in the long-run

• Legal check: trademarks etc.

• Name / branding?

• Logistics

• Payment methods

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Doing the Research: Run a Little Test

• Why not?

• Launch a landing page with a few products translated and that you think will work with a specific market

• Make sure the purchase funnel is also translated and offers the right payment methods

• Test and analyze data

• Solicit customer feedback

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Tailoring your Offer

• No two markets and its customers are the same

• You need to tailor your offer accordingly:– Product mix– Onsite merchandising– Look and feel of the website– Marketing channels– Communications and tone of voice– Customer service– Browsers and devices supported

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Tailoring your Offer: Example

• For example, if you’re thinking of expanding to Japan, you’ll have to re-think your website layout as they like things denser

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Tailoring your Offer: Example (Cont’d)

• Before: MakeLeaps’ EN site

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Tailoring your Offer: Example (Cont’d)

• After: MakeLeaps’ JP site

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Preparing Your Launch: Performance Marketing

• Set aside a decent budget

• Performance marketing plan by channel:– SEM– SEO, Content Marketing & Social– Email Marketing– Affiliate Marketing– Retargeting

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Preparing Your Launch: Brand Marketing

• Set aside a decent budget here as well

• Works hand-in-hand with performance marketing and cannot be underestimated

• Brand Marketing– PR & Bloggers campaign– For better results and if budgets permit, couple the performance

marketing with brand equity investments (outdoor, print, broadcast advertising) • Beware: It is costly and does take a little bit of time to get going

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You’ve launched: now what?

• Give yourself 3 months (minimum) to 6 months (ideal) to test your international expansion– It takes several months to start seeing the return on your

marketing (and brand) investment

• Keep an eye on the data and let it guide your changes and optimisations on-site and product-wise

• On performance marketing, let the numbers be your guide again and optimise the channels that seem the most promising, profitable and scalable– Test some other channels you haven’t thought about

• Incorporate customer feedback when possible

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Mistakes Made / Lessons Learnt

• Too much time and resources put into expanding overseas that is not supported by enough marketing and brand investment

• Not enough prior research into the market

• No adequate tailoring of the offering

• The wrong tone of voice

• Some basic legal and logistical checks… oops.

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Conclusion

• In an increasingly global and connected world with so many tools at our disposal, international expansion may seem easy…

• … but its not.

• It is easy to do it the wrong way but it’s hard to do it the right way.

• You need to:– Pick your market(s) carefully– Do your research– Run some early tests– Adjust your offering accordingly– Have the right marketing plan to back up the launch– Do some brand investment alongside it (ideally)

#boticca

Any questions?kiyan@boticca.com

Thank you!