Expansion is great for businesses. In fact, when you are getting more customers and growing, you can do so much more. The sky’s the limit on the unique and emerging trends that come with this.
However, there are some factors that you must consider. Cultural nuances are a big one, but also the economics of certain areas. For instance, if you’re an American supplier and going to expand to the European market, you might want to change the sizes of things, due to how much bigger everything is there.
Here, we’ll go over the different things that you want to focus on when you’re building a packaging for an emerging market, and how to properly do so in order to gain even more customers than before.
Cost effective Designs and Materials
Probably the most important one, especially if you’re starting in a new market.
When you have materials and designs that are good for one market, you might think they work for all markets. Not necessarily.
Plastic is fine in US markets, but due to hefty taxes, a lot of European markets use paper or other sustainable products that are there.
You need to make sure that the designs you have are fitting for the market, and don’t end up costing an arm and a leg for you. when you have a good design with one material, see if it works for another type, and then ultimately adjust this as needed.
Adaptation for different Climates
The other thing to make sure that you do is that you offer packaging adjustments for different climates.
If your market is currently very dry and arid, when you ship to a more humid market, you need to keep that in mind. cardboard without protection might end up breaking down, and it creates a problem for some businesses. That’s why, when you are changing your market, you can do this, and also make sure that, with these emerging markets, you use the material that best fits the job.
Transportation and Storage Costs
This ties into the previous point, but it’s best if they are described separately.
When you are packaging new items in a different area, you also need to focus on the storage aspects. For instance, if you are currently in a very dry climate and then you ship and store in a humid and hot place, you need to offer temperature adjustments, or even material changes, especially to accommodate that humidity.
The same goes for sending it to customers. Make sure you look at the locations, and if you notice that they’re shipped out into an area with a lot more rain, perhaps change the materials you use.
Finally, there’s transportation. The transportation methods that you use for your items play a huge part. Some places don't use freight trains, others might not use boats or planes.
Make sure you factor this in so that you’re not spending a ton of money on the markets that you’re looking to get into, and to minimize these returns.
With this type of emergent market, you definitely want to bear all of these in mind. but I can assure you that when you do, you’re able to create a better, more rewarding experience. Just make sure that you factor all of these in, so that you maintain brand integrity and excitement amongst those that are able to buy from you.
Emerging markets are a great place to start, but make sure that you factor in all these elements, so that your current customers are happy, and the new ones are too.
