As the growth of online shopping spreads worldwide, more and more businesses are looking to capitalize on this trend by starting an international e-commerce site to sell their products globally. As online shopping becomes more popular around the world, online stores in the United States are seeing a spike in visitors from abroad. The problem is most of these stores are not equipped to handle orders from overseas. Simply being able to ship products abroad is not enough to cater to all of your international customers. You must make their shopping experience is as easy as possible, this includes having the right translator software, been able to receive payment in their currency, and using a reliable global delivery service.

There are certain challenges you should expect to face when starting an international e-commerce business. They include the following:

1. Communication barriers – Even though English is the most used language on the Internet, it cannot take the place of a person’s native language. To ensure that all visitors can fully understand what it is you are selling and how to use it properly, you must have your website translated in multiple languages. You will need a very precise translator software to get the job done.
2. Forms of payment – Customers from other countries expect to pay for products with their own currency. You cannot have an international e-commerce business without being able to accept different currencies from around the world.
3. Shipping issues – The success of your business depends on being able to ship your products out on time at a decent price. Doing this for your international orders becomes even more complicated. You need to have a reliable global delivery service to carry out this job for you.
4. Tariffs and duties – You will be subject to the tariffs and duties set up by the different destination countries when you ship to your international customers. You must find out what they are and let your customers know so they are not surprised by hidden fees.
5. Import/Export regulations – There is also a chance that your products are going to be subject to import or export regulations. Find out if you are able to ship your products outside of the United States and if they are allowed into different destination countries.

A good way to handle most of the international e-commerce challenges is to use an e-commerce solution that is able to do the following:

• Offer multiple language translator software to change basic words in the product name, category name, description, images and teaser sections
• Display price conversion for the different currencies on the site
• Can be integrated with payment processors that handle international payments
• Calculates shipping in real time for major global delivery service companies such as UPS, USPS, DHL, FedEx, Canada Post and Australia Post
• Supports all advanced tax calculation methods
• Allows international date formatting

There are also a number of things you can do to provide better international e-commerce in addition to using the right e-commerce solution. The first thing you must do is inform all of your international visitors of your ability to accept their order. In order to do that you should use plenty of visual indicators throughout your site such as flags to depict available languages and special links to display global shipping policy. If there are additional fees, be sure to let customers know about it before they place the order. A good way to increase conversions and decrease returns is to give very detailed instructions on how to return an international order. An even better way to get more international customers to make a purchase is to lower the cost of shipping your products abroad.