How To Know When You’re Ready To Go Global: Andy Hooper’s 3-Step International Expansion Formula

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How To Know When You’re Ready To Go Global: Andy Hooper’s 3-Step International Expansion Formula

Andy HooperAndy Hooper is the CEO of Global E-commerce Experts, a company helping brands globally expand through its three core elements: compliance, logistics, and online distribution. Andy is also an investor at GEE Capital, a firm that acquires e-commerce service providers to support the growth and expansion of Global E-commerce Experts. As an accomplished e-commerce specialist, he’s been expanding brands into new markets for over 15 years. At Global E-commerce Experts, he leads a team of professionals in the UK and EU. Andy built his career upon his successful experience growing an organization’s profits through B2B and e-procurement.

 

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Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

  • Andy Hooper discusses Global E-Commerce Experts and the inspiration behind it
  • Expanding US e-commerce businesses into the EU and UK
  • Understanding VAT compliance
  • Andy expounds on his step-by step guide to expanding globally
  • Adapting products for international markets
  • Conduct market research
  • The future of Amazon’s European markets

In this episode…

Expanding an e-commerce brand globally can bring several benefits, including increased sales, business diversification, and building a global brand and reputation. However, the challenge is knowing when the time is right to launch internationally.

Before testing the global markets, consider the maturity of your business, the demand for your products in other countries, and the costs of expanding internationally. Though the rewards of becoming a global brand can be significant, it also takes careful planning and a commitment to adapting to new cultures and markets. Once you’ve weighed all of the risks, entrepreneur and global e-commerce expert Andy Hooper offers a three-step international expansion formula: Ensure US-based sales consistently cross $5 million, obtain a mentor or guide who’s an expert in global expansion, and avoid analysis paralysis — seize the opportunity by taking the plunge.

Join Josh Hadley for this episode of the eComm Breakthrough Podcast, where he welcomes Andy Hooper, CEO of Global E-commerce Experts, to discuss capitalizing on multibillion-dollar UK and EU e-commerce markets. Andy explains VAT compliance, his step-by-step guide to expanding globally, and adapting products for international markets.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Special Mention(s):

Related Episode(s):

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by Ecomm Breakthrough Consulting where I help seven-figure ecommerce owners grow to eight figures. Of course…

I started Hadley Designs in 2015 and grew it to an eight-figure brand in seven years.

I made mistakes along the way that made the path to eight figures longer. At times I doubted whether our business could even survive and become a real brand. I wish I would have had a guide to help me grow faster and avoid the stumbling blocks.

If you’ve hit a plateau and want to know the next steps to take your business to the next level, then go to www.EcommBreakthrough.com (that’s Ecomm with two M’s) to learn more.

As a special bonus to my podcast listeners, this month I’m giving away one $10,000 comprehensive business strategy audit session at no cost. Email me at josh@ecommbreakthrough.com with the subject line “Strategy Audit” and tell me why your business should win the free audit for the chance to win and don’t worry, if you don’t win the free strategy audit this month, you’ll automatically be entered for future months.

Episode Transcript

Intro 0:04

Welcome to the eComm Breakthrough Podcast. Are you ready to unlock the full potential and growth in your business? You’ve already crossed seven figures in sales, but the challenge is knowing how to take your business to the next level. Join Josh Hadley, an eight-figure e-comm business owner and investor, as he interviews highly successful business owners. Get ready because you’re going to learn specific actions you can take today to help your business reach its full potential and leave a lasting impact on the world.

Josh Hadley 0:36

Welcome to the eComm Breakthrough Podcast. I’m your host Josh Hadley, where I interview the top business leaders in e-commerce. Past guests include Kevin King, Steven Pope and Roland Frasier. Today I’m speaking with Andy Hooper, the CEO of Global E-commerce Experts, and we will talk a lot about how you can capitalize on the multibillion dollar, UK and EU e-commerce markets. This episode is brought to you by e-Comm Breakthrough Consulting, where I help seven-figure companies grow to eight figures and beyond. Listen, Andy, I started my business back in 2015. And I grew it to an eight-figure brand in seven years. But I made a lot of mistakes along the way that made the path of getting to eight figures take a lot longer than I needed to. There were times where I had a lot of self doubt or whether I truly believed that my brand could survive, or whether we could have the cash flow to continue to make that next purchase order. I wish I would have had a guide along the way to help me overcome those obstacles and kind of see around those walls that were in front of me. So to our listeners, those of you who are running into obstacles and plateaus and want to know the next steps to take your business to the next level. Go to eCommBreakthrough.com that’s e-comm with two M’s to learn more. And as a special bonus to my podcast listeners, this month I’m giving away one $10,000 comprehensive business strategy audit session at no cost. All you need to do is email me at Josh@eCommBreakthrough.com and in your subject line say Strategy Audit and then plead your case as to why I should choose you and your business to work with for this month’s strategy audit. And if you don’t win this month, don’t worry you’ll be entered to win for future months to come. Today, I am super excited to introduce you all to Andy Hooper. And he is the CEO of Global E-commerce Experts and has been successfully expanding e-commerce brands into new markets for over 15 years. He’s an accomplished specialist in e-commerce, and he works with companies around the world providing comprehensive gateways and solutions to new markets, especially US-based organizations transitioning into Europe. Starting from the ground up, Andy has carved out a niche inspired by his own experience and success of growing an organization’s profits through e-commerce with an infectious energy for success. Andy leads a team of professionals in all aspects of e-commerce with fulfillment centers in the UK and EU. The global E-commerce team provides hassle-free end-to-end solutions that have helped 1000s of sellers capitalize on the multibillion dollar UK and EU markets. When not working, Andy can often be found enjoying sailing, cycling, and kayaking with his friends and family on England’s South Coast. So with that introduction, Andy, welcome to the show.

Andy Hooper 3:31

Josh, thank you very much for having us. Much appreciated.

Josh Hadley 3:34

Hey, I’m excited to have you know, dialing in across the pond, so to speak. And you have got a wealth of knowledge when it comes to global expansion. And we had a conversation prior to hitting the record button. And what you guys do is so uniquely different than I think many of the other agencies that help people kind of expand into Europe, and you’ve got a wealth of knowledge that I think our listeners are going to be anxious to hear. So Andy, first of all, tell me how you kind of had the idea to start Global E-commerce Experts?

Andy Hooper 4:08

Well, I think like a lot of entrepreneurs or business owners don’t listen to this, I sort of fell into it is probably the right answer. And that became for various different reasons. So I if I go back sort of, you know, 10, 15 years, you know, I was selling products on Amazon, I was flipping things on eBay, like many people listening to this, trying to find extra ways to earn extra cash, to be able to supplement my full-time income and enjoy doing something slightly different. And two, I set up I’ve various different business. I’ve been a wedding photographer, a 3D printer, a sports consultant, a dog sitter, and a whole host of other things that we probably don’t need to go into here. But that sort of journey into where I am today sort of is probably similar to many of you where I’ve tried lots of different things, some work something that I learned a lot lot along the way. But in 2016, the VAT rules changed for Amazon sellers who are based outside of Europe. Well, the rules didn’t change. Amazon, typically, as all marketplaces had to show due diligence to the government that they knew what the VAT numbers were for sellers. So having been an Amazon seller, at this point, I could see this happening, I could see the forums, I could see everything that was going on. And I was like, I can see something happening here. How do I do VAT? Because that sounds like that could work really well? How do I work with businesses outside of Europe to expand them in because I’m much more of a service-based person, than I am a product-based person, serving someone and giving them great service and watching them grow? From my view, I used to be a sailing coach, you’re watching people grow or learn or get better, is what I love doing. And selling products just doesn’t excite me as much as a service-based business. It’s just not my thing. Although I’ve done it, I understand it. And, and did okay. It just didn’t get me excited. So we came up with this idea in 2016, that we would do vat for American sellers that were looking to expand on either the VAT number in Europe, worked with an accountant from an accountant in-house to deal with that. And off we ran. And we started the business officially July 2017. And we’ve been doubling every year since.

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