Challenges
International companies selling into the U.S. face a number of challenges that typically discourage them from conducting business in the U.S. One glaring issue is sales tax liability. Most companies selling into the U.S. establish a localized business entity. By doing so, the business can conduct operations in the U.S. and remit sales tax to the U.S. government. However, establishing a business entity has its own set of challenges, which may dissuade international businesses from expanding into the U.S. So, what is the alternative? Additionally, many small-medium sized companies such as Autozon lack resources when it comes to marketing to the U.S. consumer, providing a complete fulfillment solution, and delivering a seamless customer buying experience. Autozon shares how their partnership with Newegg was more than what they bargained for.
Partnership & Growth
“Compared to other marketplaces, we saw Newegg offering a ton of opportunities, resources, and prospects we felt aligned with our business objectives. We were particularly drawn to their popular online reputation and loyal customer following. We were confident that if we could get our products in front of their customers and couple that with excellent service, we in turn would gain their customers’ loyalty,” says Sung.
“Because we are headquartered overseas, we leveraged Newegg’s expertise. They served as our eyes and ears in the North American market and advised implementing marketplace best practices such as content optimization. We concentrated on optimizing our product listings’ content in order to enhance the overall buying experience. By optimizing, our products were also ready to be featured on various promotional channels,” says Sung.
Often products that secure placements on Newegg’s promotional channels attract customers who are more willing to buy. In other words, products see better conversion rates because of the premium exposure. The placements proved to be a turning point for their business.
“During our first year, we focused on having our most popular products featured on onsite promotional channels such as Shell Shocker, Daily Deals, and/or Spotlight and on Newegg’s segmented emails. We were able to establish a healthy flow of sales and by the end of the year we earned over $80k in sales,” Sung highlights.
In order to facilitate Autozon’s sales and traffic goals, the Newegg team began expanding Autozon’s marketing opportunities by leveraging Google Product Listing Ads (PLA). PLA is a cost per click program that allows sellers to bid on products and/or product categories which aim to have that specific product(s) appear on the first page of Google search results. Thus, driving traffic to the product page and increasing the chances of conversion.
“By taking a two-pronged, strategic approach between the PLA channel and the internal placements we had from the previous year, we saw our traffic pick up steam. Customers started recognizing and trusting Auto-in-the-box as a go to seller on Newegg Marketplace for automotive electronics. We observed a direct correlation between increased site traffic and improved conversion rates for our items. Maximizing these opportunities yielded over $390k in sales that year, a 370% growth year over year,” says Sung. Autozon is one of the thousands of sellers thriving since joining Newegg Marketplace. They are on pace to grow again in 2016.
