Oversees growth is not instant or guaranteed, as adapting to new markets can be very different and difficult at times. What do you do if you have put huge efforts and resources to succeed and still failed to do so in the ways that you desired? Well, the learnings and insights from the failure too can teach you a few valuable lessons that can drive growth to your other markets. Take note of these 5 insights from international missteps that can help you even when you fail.
1. Learn from your lessons when you leave
A new country can teach you numerous new lessons since you are now dealing with new experiences. Unlearning and relearning know areas like customer preferences, most popular products, marketing tactics can be exciting and could drive growth in other regions too.
2. Stress-testing in difficult markets
Some markets are usually ahead of others in terms of trends. Thus when you have international exposure in such markets, even when you fail, it helps you understand and prepare in advance for other markets. It is like going ahead in a time machine and testing your process or products to see if it is future proof.
For instance, the food service industry is disrupted by delivery aggregators all over world. Which could mean that aggregators have control of the market. In China, having your own source of new customers – in the form of a well-placed unit in an area with high footfall – is the key to survival. And you could adopt this approach all over the world.
The food service industry is being disrupted by delivery aggregators all over the world. In China, this process has already reached its apex. The aggregators now have total control of the market.
3. Keep moving forward even if there are setbacks
Be ready to close down in an existing market and open up in new markets. When you expand overseas and fail, this will teach you how to learn from and look for better world markets for your products or services. Let the world be your playground so you can explore and take your brand to all profitable nations for operations.
4. No gain without pain
It is usual for international master franchising team to target only countries that could accommodate dozens of units. This is because it’s time and cost consuming to launch your brand in a new market, study the competition, tweak the product and train your partner’s crew.
Though the logic did make sense, it is also true that the ability to launch new countries was a technique – one that we had to work on to strengthen. In other words, there was value in launching new regions beyond the size of the pie we got to eat. This value was the experience our team could gain and the global infrastructure it would develop when evaluating a new market, assessing potential franchisees, and preparing the launch itself.
5. Be bold to charter new horizons
Venturing in overseas markets might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Since some brands are content with their existing local markets while some don’t have the bandwidth to accommodate international expansion. International markets can attract new and exclusive talents and lessons that could be used to the advantage of the brand.
The daring and the bold, who seek to venture into new markets will only be able to realize these valuable lessons as part of their growth.
Source: Global Franchise Magazine
Get to know who are the industry key players, visit our Interview of the Week page.
To stay updated, visit our Franchise News section.
To learn more, visit our Franchising Tips section.
0 comments