#682 – Why You Should Expand Your Amazon Business Globally

Are you ready to unlock the secrets of international e-commerce success? With Natalia from Avask as our expert guide, you’ll gain invaluable insights into the essential considerations for global expansion. Natalia’s multicultural upbringing and rich professional background offer a unique lens on the complexities of international market entry. From understanding VAT regulations to the nuances of packaging requirements, our conversation uncovers the pivotal elements that can make or break your cross-border ventures.

Our deep dive into global e-commerce tax considerations will give you the knowledge to navigate the European market and beyond. Discover why obtaining a VAT number is crucial and how Amazon’s role as a marketplace facilitator can alleviate some tax responsibilities for non-EU sellers. We also shed light on the hurdles European sellers encounter when entering the US market, stressing the significance of mastering regional tax regulations to ensure your business thrives internationally.

Finally, we explore promising avenues for expansion beyond the familiar territories of the US and EU. Markets like Australia present unique opportunities with less saturation and favorable tax thresholds. As Natalia reminds us, global expansion isn’t just a growth opportunity; it’s a smart hedge against market fluctuations. With the right preparation and expert support, expanding your Amazon business across borders doesn’t have to be overwhelming. From understanding VAT rules to knowing where (and where not) to store your inventory, success lies in the details. Don’t wait for Q4 panic or Prime Day regret to start the process. Lay the groundwork now, so you’re ready when the moment comes.

And if you’re ready for step-by-step guidance, don’t miss the Expansion Ticket course inside Freedom Ticket! Available to all Helium 10 users. It’s your fast track to global readiness, whether you’re scaling from the U.S. to Europe, or vice versa.

In episode 682 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Natalia discuss:

• 00:00 – Global Expansion Strategies for E-Commerce
• 04:29 – Natalia’s Backstory
• 11:16 – VAT Requirements for Amazon Sellers
• 13:47 – Global E-Commerce Tax Considerations
• 15:59 – Understanding State Taxes and VAT 
• 19:56 – European Sellers Expanding to US Market
• 21:32 – International E-Commerce Expansion Considerations
• 27:03 – Global Expansion Opportunities in E-Commerce 
• 30:45 – Optimizing E-Commerce Shipping for Profit
• 33:35 – International E-Commerce Strategies

Transcript

Bradley Sutton:

Are you only selling in the USA or only selling in Europe? It’s time you consider expanding to other marketplaces. Today, we talk about different things you need to keep in mind when expanding globally, such as VAT regulations, package requirements and more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I’m your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that’s completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And, as we normally do, we don’t just have guests here in the United States, we’re going to the other side of the world. Is it Southampton where you guys are at?

Natalia:

Yeah, Southampton.

Bradley Sutton:

I remember I’ve been there in that very room recording things live from AVASK’s headquarters. We’ve got Natalia in the house. How’s it going, Natalia?

Natalia:

Hi, everything is good. I’m very happy to be here. Obviously, we’re on the other side of the world, but luckily, with things like this, we can connect together. So great to be here.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Now the first thing I remember when I met you, I was like, okay, first of all, you don’t have a British accent, but you’re obviously in London. And then you have un nombre como Natalia y hablas Español.

Natalia:

Exactly.

Bradley Sutton:

And so I’m like all right, I’m very confused here. But then your last name. I was like what in the world? So, first of all, what is your like ethnic background? Because it’s very like unique and obviously you’re not from Southampton.

Natalia:

Yeah, that’s right and, to be fair, most people at AVASK are a weird mix. We have all kinds. So myself, my mom is American, which is why sometimes you’ll hear a little bit of a twang, but my dad is Hungarian, so from Hungary, a very different culture. It’s very different parts of the world, but they met and I grew up in Spain, which is where my first name comes, Natalia. I actually, because you spell it the same in all three languages, they went for that name because then it’s nice and easy so Spanish is my first language and then English and then Hungarian. But we at AVASK speak all kinds of languages. So you walk around the office I mean you’ve seen it and you hear Chinese, German, Portuguese, all kinds of languages.

Bradley Sutton:

I love it. I love it. All right. Speaking of different countries, can you think of the significance of this jersey? This is a soccer jersey. It’s a Helium 10 custom jersey, obviously, but do you recognize? Like the crest here? There’s a significance of why I’m wearing this today. Let’s see if you notice this crest here.

Natalia:

I guess there’s a big game happening.

Bradley Sutton:

Not really. Not really, but this, I think, is like the Serbian crest. And so can you guess why I’m wearing a Serbian Helium 10 thing when I have AVASK on the show? Any idea at all.

Natalia:

You’re doing something with Serbia with Helium 10, expanding?

Bradley Sutton:

The CEO of AVASK is from Serbia, and he has the same jersey too. Used to be the CEO of Helium 10. So, like whenever, like you’re not Serbian, obviously, but I’m like, all right, I’m doing something with AVASK and Bojan’s honor, I’m wearing my Serbian Helium 10 jersey there. Anyways, we’re not here to talk about all the kinds of our international backgrounds, which we have a lot of love here, but we want to talk about this new course that we came out with. But since this is your first time, let’s just get a little bit more of your background. You already said where you were born and raised, which is definitely interesting. Fill in a little bit more of the gap. Before you actually got to UK, where did you go to university?

Natalia:

Well, I went to university in the UK, which is what brought me here. I studied international business, which is where AVASK comes in as well. So between the languages and the studies AVASK just fit in. So I’ve been with AVASK for five years now and everything together just ties in. Then the industry we’re in is so new and so refreshing that everything just works. So it’s a combination of everything. I’ve now been in the UK for 11 years. A lot of people would be like why are you switching from Spain to the UK? I know the weather is worse here.

Natalia:

I get it. You don’t have to remind me, but the culture is nice, everyone’s really nice. We do actually have AVASK in Spain. We do actually have AVASK in Spain, so there is an option to switch, but for now I’m going to stay here.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right, so you’re one of the few who kind of is actually doing what you studied. There’s so many people, oh, I was an art major and now I run Amazon. Or hey, I studied law and now I work in finance, you know. So that’s refreshing a little bit. Now is AVASK like your first venture into, kind of like, the e-commerce world, or did you have any exposure to that before, like in Amazon or selling online or anything like that?

Natalia:

Yeah, to the e-commerce world. Yeah, before that-commerce world, yeah, before that, I used to run events, so actually I used to run marathons. Marathons was, like, my thing to organize, which involves a lot of people. It involves a lot of strategy planning, which I guess ties in. When you expand a business, you have to think of all these components, so it was quite a good mix.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. Interesting. Now, you’ve been in this game now for five years and so, you know, I’m sure even you have seen a lot of things that have changed and we’ll talk about that. The reason why I said I was familiar with that office there, and I’ve filmed the course actually at in AVASK headquarters there with Natalia and it’s called Expansion Ticket and that’s what we’re going to be mainly talking about today. It’s a course inside of Helium 10. It’s right there inside of Freedom Ticket. So everybody who’s a paying member of Helium 10, even if you’re on the lowest plan of 30 bucks a month you will go to Freedom Ticket and you’ll see a full course called Expansion Ticket and basically that is all about.

Bradley Sutton:

Hey, you’re in the US selling an Amazon USA, how do you expand to Europe, Japan? Hey, you’re only selling an Amazon Germany or Amazon Europe. How do you expand to US? Because there’s a lot of you know things that hold people back, because they’re like oh man, I don’t know about VAT, I don’t know about California state taxes, I don’t know about all these regulations, import duties, I don’t know about certifications and things like that, and it’s kind of a hassle for some, and some are just scared and like, ah, I’m not going to do it. And so we’re like, hey, how can we like outline things so that you know people do expand?

Bradley Sutton:

I think during COVID especially, and during times of tariffs and things like that, people are seeing that it’s not great to have all your eggs in one basket, you know, as far as you’re selling, and the more you diversify where you’re selling, the less you’re going to be impacted by things that happen in the world that we can’t control. What would you say is the number one thing that holds an American person back from like expanding to Europe? In my mind, it’s just the three letters of VATs. Is that the main one, or is there something bigger than that you think?

Natalia:

Yeah, but I guess it’s what is behind VAT. Behind VAT is the unknown. So whatever you don’t know about is what you don’t want to do. So I think it’s just as simple as just knowing what VAT means in that sense and knowing how easy it is to overcome that in that. So there’s quite a few acronyms we use. VAT is one blocker, if we can call it blocker, or we could call it fear. The other acronym is also EPR, so we like the three acronyms.

Bradley Sutton:

What’s that stand for?

Natalia:

Extended Producer Responsibility.

Bradley Sutton:

I didn’t even know. You probably taught me that in expansion. I forgot that already. Okay, I was about to say environmental protection regulation or something like that. Okay.

Natalia:

Almost. Yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Talk a little bit more about those.

Natalia:

Yeah, so VAT, you probably all know, is sales tax. We just call it something different, just like we do with a lot of things. And then EPR is environmental, as you were saying. So it’s all to do with the products that you bring into the country. You need to make sure they’re being disposed of correctly, and the way to do that is through a tax. It’s quite a minor tax, I have to say so. It’s not something that should put you off economically, but it should be something you know about, and people like AVASK can teach you about this, just so that you know exactly.

Natalia:

You need VAT, you need EPR, and I’m ready to launch. So it’s not huge in the sense that I need to build this whole new company to expand, put my eggs in other baskets. It’s not that. It’s just certain steps that you need to take with your existing company to make that expansion, especially now. It depends when you’re watching this, but Prime Day is, or has just been, and a lot of sellers wish that they were selling in Prime Day in other countries. But in order to do that, you need to be set up. So let’s try and think ahead. When that next Prime Day is going to come, when Q4 is going to come, you need to do the setup now to be ready to sell in those countries during these periods.

Bradley Sutton:

So let’s talk about something again like an Expansion Ticket, guys, we have like maybe 10, 12 modules that go very in details and so we’re not going to do we don’t have the time to do that in one podcast episode but let’s try and get some of the main things kind of like the structure of what somebody needs to do. Let’s start with this the same scenario of hey, I’m an American-based company, I’m looking to expand to Europe, yes, I know VAT and all this stuff, but even before then, can I? I know in some countries we actually have to have an entity based in in their US. Is not one of them like I could have a, you know, company based in Dubai? I don’t need to have an LLC from America. You know it might be better, but is that the same in EU, where I do not have to have in any of the countries like an actual corporation or employee that is based in Europe, I can be 100% American company and register for Amazon and sell it.

Natalia:

Yeah which is the biggest thing that people maybe don’t know about. You don’t need to incorporate new company. You don’t need a new CPA. Everything you have put effort into building in the US you can use to expand. So just use your LLC or your equivalent, use that company and just expand.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, perfect, perfect. So then the one that I do need is or let me actually reframe it this way what are the general VAT requirements? Do I only need to like, for example, EU? I know UK is a separate thing now, but if, if I’m only gonna sell in Amazon Germany but I know Amazon Germany.

Bradley Sutton:

Actually, you know you can order something from Amazon Germany, like if I’m living in Slovakia or something like that. Do I need to only worry about VAT in Germany, or do I have to start worrying about having VAT in these other countries that Amazon Germany might ship to?

Natalia:

Only where you store your inventory. So in your scenario, you have all your stock in Germany. That is the only place you need to worry about. You could sell to French customers, Spanish customers, Serbian customers that you mentioned anyone all from one country, and all you’ve had to worry about is getting the VAT number in Germany.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. So then as I expand to Amazon, Netherlands or France and there’s storage in those countries, that’s when I need to expand and get VATs for each of those. It’s a different VAT for each country it’s not like one VAT.

Natalia:

Yeah, I will give you a spoiler. We’re in 2028. Come back to these videos, because there might be one VAT number for all of Europe. So it is coming. The tax offices do hear you that it should be much simpler. So changes are coming, but until then, just control where your inventory is at. You actually have control over it all, so just decide. If you want to store in Germany and Netherlands, then that’s the two VAT numbers that you have.

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Bradley Sutton:

Now let’s say I’m just trying the market out, like I’m doing a test product, or I’m very low, very low, you know, gross sales. Is there some threshold where VAT? It’s like the law where I have to get VAT, or from the very first time I’m selling I need to be already registered and have VAT.

Natalia:

From the very first time that you’re storing, you have to have it. You have to have it before, which is where I always insist. Get ready beforehand, have the VAT number before, otherwise you can’t ship your products into that country.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, interesting, interesting. I didn’t know that, like, I was under impression that you don’t have to worry about it unless you’ve made like 10,000 euros or something like that. So there’s nothing like that. Okay, interesting.

Natalia:

But how do we do storage?

Bradley Sutton:

Obviously, you know you guys help with VAT and then you don’t have to worry about registering and you don’t have to worry about all the complications. But can just a regular person sign up on their own for VAT? Obviously, if they have a big operation it’s better to use a professional agency like yourself. But is it even humanly possible that somebody could do it on their own?

Natalia:

In certain countries, you could. So when I say certain countries is those countries that don’t require you to have a presence. By presence I essentially mean incorporation. So we have incorporations in different countries to be able to represent you, whereas if you just expanded with your LLC, you don’t have an incorporation in Germany, for example, so you can’t represent yourself. You would need someone to represent you. But then there’s other countries where you don’t need representation, so you could do it yourself. Bearing in mind, tax offices will speak the local language. So if you know the local language, you could do it. And if you want to go through the process, absolutely fine, just make sure that those countries where you need a representative, you have one and someone taking care of it, the other ones, you could do it okay.

Bradley Sutton:

Now here in America, for different most states, you know, there’s state tax and then as consumers what we see is like we’ll see a price of a product, the coffin shelf It’ll be like $32.97. That’s the price I see in, like in the Amazon search results, and then I click out and if I’m a Prime member that’s free shipping. But then if I live in California, which I do then it’s like I don’t know whatever. 8.3, 8.2% tax I’ll see that at the last. But in Europe that is the VAT, like the price that is seen. Is that including VAT? Or is it like in America, where it’s only added, like after the checkout?

Natalia:

The price you see is the final price, no added on. That includes VAT. It includes everything. So every time you see a listing with the price, so do bear this in mind when you’re doing your competitor analysis. When you’re seeing the price on Amazon Europe, you’re seeing the full price with tax included. So if you want to check what pricing you would do when you expand, just bear that in mind that they probably have added about 20, 21% VAT on it. It’s a bit higher than the US, but we’re used to it. So just make sure that that’s accounted for, because when you make that sale, Amazon will deduct that 20, 21%, so all you would receive is the remaining. So you want to make sure that your margins are correct and you’ve accounted for that 20%.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, interesting. So that I mean that that’s important. I mean 20%. First of all. It’s a huge, humongous number. You know the maximum, I think state tax in America is between 8 and 10 percent or so, so it’s not like, oh yeah, it’ll come out. I mean like if you’re not factoring that into your retail price, then you’re definitely going to be losing money, you know, potentially. Okay, so that’s important.

Bradley Sutton:

Now in America again, as of I don’t know five, six years ago, I think, it’s something called marketplace facilitator tax or something where Amazon and all marketplaces in the US you know you do not have to get your own state tax ID in all 50 US states and worry about reporting that all the time but because it’s the requirement of Amazon and stuff to collect that money and then submit it to the state government or wherever it’s going, since that price is built into the price in Europe. Does that mean the same thing is happening? It’s like, you know, Amazon, Germany is taking that and giving that tax to where it needs to go. Or is there still something? Me, as a seller who’s selling in Germany, I have to do with that 19, 20% or whatever it is.

Natalia:

No, Amazon copied exactly the same as they do in the US. Only recently 2021, Amazon started doing it, so Amazon will now do exactly the same as the US. They’ll deduct that 20% and pay it to the German tax office. That is to say, it’s only for non-EU companies, so Amazon will only do it for non-Europeans.

Natalia:

So when having an LLC, you have a benefit that you have Amazon helping you. If I’m talking to maybe, a company in Spain, they will have to collect that 20 and then pay it to the German tax office. So you do have to bear in mind that rules change depending on your company location, which is always why you should consult, just in case. But as to your question, Amazon is a deemed marketplace supplier in Europe as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting, interesting. Yeah, real quick on this topic. What about the flip side? If I’m in Europe, what’s the main thing, like I need to know expanding to US. I also do not need to have a us entity per se but what is a big like hurdle for European sellers, or is there any kind of hurdle that European sellers have when they expand to the us market?

Natalia:

Well, it’s the flip side. So remove that VAT that you’re so ingrained in our minds that our price has VAT on it. Remove that, because Amazon’s going to add on top. So the last thing I want is people expanding into the US with their full price, which to them, the full price, includes VAT. Amazon then add on top and people aren’t buying your product because there’s competitors out there selling it for cheaper, but they’re selling it for cheaper because they know that the VAT should have been removed.

Natalia:

So just bear that in mind. The other way around and I guess just we all know the US market is much bigger. There’s so many more sellers. So bear in mind that you will have competition, which is the beauty of Europe, that you have that potential. But US trends then come into Europe. So if your product is really well in the US it’s then likely to do really well in Europe. So it’s a good market to start see how your product does, see which one sells the most, and then shift that to Europe.

Bradley Sutton:

Is there any kind of tax or anything for Europeans selling in the US other than just that state tax that’s already collected and remitted by Amazon? Do I have to worry about putting any money aside for any kind of bill I’m going to get because I’m a foreigner selling in the US, or no, what I get from Amazon, I can go and spend that as much as I want. Yeah, exactly.

Natalia:

Obviously, bear in mind there’s things like company corporation tax that you’re going to have to pay in your local country. So just keep that in mind so that you don’t spend all your money. The US can ask you to do an annual just informative return because you’re making sales in the US. They just want to make sure that you’re declaring this somewhere else. So by informing the IRS that you have made sales and you’re declaring in your local country, that’s enough for them. So just little things to consider but no additional taxes.

Bradley Sutton:

And on the flip side, I’m based in US, I’m selling in EU, I got my VAT covered. Is there something yearly that happens like am I ever going to get money back from that VAT that all went out? Am I ever going to have to owe more money once a year where I have to kind of like set some aside just in case? What’s that situation like?

Natalia:

It doesn’t tend to happen. Amazon calculates the VAT correctly and that gets remitted, so you don’t have to account for anything additional. If you do have refunds and people returning their products, then we can calculate whether you’re owed any of the VAT back. But in terms of saving some money because you’re going to owe some more, you don’t have to worry about that.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, cool, after VAT, what is the second biggest thing? I would think it’s like maybe different regulations in different countries. Like I remember, I was actually going to get your help to take this one product from somebody a hemp pain cream in the U S and try and sell that in Amazon UK. But I think you had investigated it and you’re like, oh no, that product, as is probably wouldn’t be accepted in the UK. So there’s, I know that you know there’s different regulations and certifications. What are some major things that outside of VAT that people need to think about when expanding?

Natalia:

Yeah, one of the biggest things that we talked about was licenses. Depending on your product, you might be required to have an additional license things like hemp seed supplements because they’re being consumed. You just want to make sure that you’re protected, the company is protected and you have everything. But the additional regulation that’s coming to place is what we were talking about at the beginning EPR. So about the environment? So this is more to do with the product itself again, rather than the country.

Natalia:

It’s things like packaging just need to be disposed of correctly, so it’s something to bear in mind, but it’s pretty minor. It’s not like VAT that it exists everywhere. You need to have it beforehand. EPR is pretty niche. We can tell you exactly what products fall under EPR and what categories you would need. Packaging just assume that that’s a given and you would need to register for packaging. Basically have a number that you put on your Amazon Seller Central to say I am registered, I can sell. And then you’re good to go.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, you brought up something about like packaging. I know, even here in North America, especially if it’s a supplement or something, the package that I use in the US I can’t use in Canada. Like they have requirements where I think it’s like all right, you have to have it in French, like part of it has to be in French because of Quebec and stuff like that. So I would assume that if I’m doing any kind of like food or supplement or anything, there’s a whole like. There’s no way I could use my US packaging in Europe. I would have to do something that is per their regulations.

Natalia:

So product packaging is an interesting one, because you want your labels and your instructions to be in the correct language. What we’re tending to see right now is people using QR codes, so by having a QR code, you can essentially scan it and then read the instructions in your local language.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting, interesting, okay. So, what about, you know, we’ve been mainly talking about US and EU and vice versa, which I think is the most common and the most suggested place to expand. Like, if you’re in the US, the first place you expand to is Europe, because that’s the biggest opportunity. If you’re in EU, you might have even started in US, but if you’re not yet, it’s the first place you should do it, because the market is so big. What are some other things, like different nuances in different countries outside of EU and US that sellers need to have in mind, like anything about the Middle East or Asia or Australia, things like that.

Natalia:

Yeah, I mean it’s a great point because we always forget about these countries, but Amazon is present in quite a few countries that maybe you don’t think about, but Australia is a great one. They speak the same language. Yes, we have different twangs and maybe you want to localize specific to their country, but it’s a great market to expand to one, because it’s not saturated at all. People aren’t expanding to Australia as much as other countries, so you could be one of the first to sell your products in that country. In terms of nuances, you talked about thresholds before. Australia is one of the few countries that has a threshold, so until you sell 75,000 Australian dollars worth of products, you don’t have to register. So essentially, you could be expanding into Australia right now without needing anything, which is nuts.

Natalia:

I don’t know how people aren’t doing this. You could always then just stop if you want to, but if you’ve reached the threshold, I don’t see why you would stop. There’s obviously a demand for your products, so just go ahead, register and keep selling. And there’s other countries like UAE and KSA Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which are two really big countries, wealthy countries as well, so they do shop online. They shop a lot, so your products could be in demand right now and you haven’t even explored that country. They are very strict with VAT, so you do have to have the registration from the start, otherwise penalties will come. But it’s that little step that you need to take to potentially gain a whole new market

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Interesting, interesting. What all does other than just, hey, we’ll help you with getting your VAT up and going. Does AVASK you know, do I mean? Obviously, you’re one of the biggest companies out there in this space. You’re not just a company with hundreds and hundreds of employees in in 12 countries, helping people set up VAT accounts in the UK. There’s a lot of things you do like, so what all do you guys do over there for e-commerce sellers?

Natalia:

Yeah, we always really narrow it down to VAT, but there is so many more elements, EPR being one of them. We have a huge department for EPR that is an essential part of expansion. One of the big ones that we don’t tend to talk about is customs. You we always about shipping freight forwarders, but what happens when your product actually gets to the country? You need someone to clear the goods at customs, bring those products into the country. So that’s when our customs department comes in, and I mean with VAT, EPR, customs, you’re pretty much sorted.

Natalia:

So those are the three key elements that we’ve defined are what you need before you expand. That’s why we always come in pretty soon in your expansion journey. And then we have a huge team of account managers that will always be there to support you. So you have that point of contact. The person that’s doing your filings, yeah, but they also have a vast amount of knowledge that you could just go on a phone call with them, have a chat, say, look, I’m thinking about Australia, what do I need to know? I’m thinking about the US, how do I expand? Just have that conversation with and I think that’s our, our biggest service.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. Now, just anecdotally you know you don’t have to give names or exact figures or anything like inspire some people about why they should expand, like, maybe, like, oh, I know of a company who they were selling in Germany and then they went all EU and they increased revenue by this. Or I know somebody who was just selling US and they expanded here. Like hype it up a little bit about why expansion is important.

Natalia:

I mean, I always remember this one, actually for a different reason. So this is a coffee brand. If you’re in London you definitely know them. I’ll give a hint. It’s got a pink branding. Can’t say their name, but I’m sure you all know who they are. They were shipping coffee capsules into Italy. So they shipped the coffee capsules. As we all know, Italians make a great coffee, so that’s where they decided to do their manufacturing. Italy would ground the coffee beans and then put it into the capsules, and then the capsules would be shipped across the world. So that’s their e-commerce platform. However, when we had a conversation with them, they said look, I have a whole bunch of import VAT, what they pay when they import, because I’m importing into Italy and I can’t get it back. We’re talking about thousands and thousands of euros. But we said why are you shipping into Italy? Italy import is so difficult to reclaim. Why don’t you ship into Netherlands and then go to Italy? They saved them thousands of euros and now they can. Obviously, their margins are much better. So people like that that we can help, not in the way that that you maybe thought about at the beginning, but even in a different way.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right, cool. Talk a little bit more about the expansion ticket course we did like what are some of the because I already forgot. I think your memory is better than mine. What are some of the things that we go a little bit in depth in, of how it can help people understand some of the steps that they need in order to expand?

Natalia:

That’s exactly right. I think the beauty of this module, all the modules is that we narrow it down. So we’ve done like a checklist of what you need to think about before you expand and also once you’ve expanded. So, rather than us just rambling here and telling you a whole bunch of stats and different things you can do, we’ve really summarized it step-by-step. You could just go into specific module. If you need a refresher, if you’re more knowledgeable about a different one, you could just skim through it. So it’s really well divided and a step-by-step guide, which I think is the best way to do things.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, perfect, perfect, all right. So again, guys, it’s in your freedom ticket course. Just look on the left-hand side. You’ll see expansion ticket there. It’ll probably take you know, if you’re listening to that 1.5x or 2x. You could probably even get to it in an hour. It should be pretty easy to get to.

Bradley Sutton:

But the main moral of the story today is, guys, is we live in a different time than, like you know, 2018 or 2019, when, yeah, you could probably get away with just selling in one platform and you’ll be okay. But not only should we be thinking about expanding to other countries in the Amazon ecosystem. But hey, you know, you’re selling in TikTok USA. You should be selling in TikTok UK and now TikTok is in is in Spain and all the in Japan and Brazil and all these other countries. But start thinking more about, you know, expansion. Now is there a 60 second strategy you can give us? I know sometimes you AVASK knows about these like secret ways to like get money back from Amazon if you go into a new marketplace and different things like that I’ve seen. I was just with Hatice in another country where from AVASK, where she was talking about some of those do you have any cool hacks or strategies for us?

Natalia:

I mean there’s loads I can give you one that we just talked about. A ship via Netherlands is one of the best countries. A second one, shipped by the UK or France, that doesn’t have import VAT. A lot of people forget this, and also the fact that you can sell to 27 countries from one. We always forget you don’t have to expand to 27 countries, you could just do it from one. So watch the modules, get yourself familiar with the different regulations and then, once you’ve done your research which I actually found really interesting in one of the modules that we did that you actually searched a specific product to see what the competition was like and you saw there was no competition and just thought why the hell am I not selling in that country? Do your research and then you know exactly where to go.

Bradley Sutton:

There we go. All right, if somebody wants to get some more information or reach out to you guys on the interwebs, how can they find you out there?

Natalia:

Yeah, I mean, you have me on LinkedIn. If you want to reach out directly to me, we also have our website full of information that you can go on to and just contact us now on the website. Or if you just want to send an email, you can do this on inquiries at avaskgroup.com.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. All right, Natalia, thank you so much, gracias. How do I say it in Hungarian? Thank you.

Natalia:

Kasi.

Bradley Sutton:

Kasi. Oh, that’s an easy one. I like it. I like it.

Natalia:

 Yeah, easy.

Bradley Sutton:

Excellent, excellent. So thank you so much.

Natalia:

Thank you for having me.

Bradley Sutton:

I think, if I ask all the different ways, that somebody at your very office there could say thank you, we’d probably have like 27 languages.

Bradley Sutton:

We’d be here for the rest of the day, but that’s awesome. I’ll be seeing you hopefully at an upcoming conference, and what I’d like to do as well is I’m sure there’s a lot of other questions that our audience has. What I want you guys to do if you’re watching this on YouTube or something and you’re be interested in having like Natalia on for like a live ask me anything show, put that, put some of those questions in the comments below on YouTube, or let us know hey, would you like ask me anything where you can ask your own particular question about expanding to other marketplaces? We’ll, I’m sure Natalia I’m speaking on her behalf, but I’m sure she’d be happy to come on and do like a live workshop with our audience. So let us know in the comments below. Natalia, we’ll be seeing you hopefully at Amazon Accelerate or where will you be,

Natalia:

Yup, we’ll be there.

Bradley Sutton:

We’ll be seeing you at Amazon Accelerate. We’ll see you later.

Natalia:

Thank you.

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