Is your dropshipping business ready for the next step or expansion? There is enough room in the Benelux and Europe to realize even more revenue. But where do you start?
Benelux
The numbers
5 easy tips for expanding in the Benelux
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Make visible which countries you ship to
Dutch webshops are still very popular with Belgian consumers. As a result, you can often keep your Dutch domain name or optionally expand it to a .be domain name.If you choose to keep it with your Dutch domain name, it is useful to clearly state on your webshop to which countries you ship. In this way, consumers outside the Netherlands know that they are in the right place.
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Add the English and French language to your webshop
The Benelux consists of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Two languages are spoken in Belgium: Flemish and Walloon. In other words, Dutch and French. French is spoken by 98% of the population in Luxembourg.In addition, there are a lot of expats living in all three countries – including the Netherlands. These will benefit from the English language on your webshop, which will help you achieve more success. Is it difficult to translate? With plugins such as Weglot and WPML you can translate your WordPress site in no time.
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Offer your products on bol.com
Bol.com is the largest webshop and marketplace in the Netherlands and Belgium and the easiest way to attract Belgian consumers to your webshop.See bol.com as a marketing tool where you can place your product and only pay when you make a sale. That is a good extra boost in revenue for both the Dutch market and beyond. A lot of work? Not if you connect your WooCommerce store website via the bol.com plugin.
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Calculate free shipping to all countries
Free shipping is very common in the Netherlands, especially above a certain amount. However, you often see that Dutch webshops do charge shipping costs for Belgian customers. Although this makes sense from an entrepreneurial perspective, it comes across as very unfriendly.So start negotiating with your shipping provider and make sure you get better rates, so that you can also offer customers outside the Netherlands free shipping.
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Offer your products on Marktplaats or 2dehands
Marktplaats and 2dehands are advertising platforms for second-hand items.Marktplaats has more than 8 million unique visitors per month and 2dehands around 3 million unique visitors per month. So you can relatively easily have a reach of 11 million visitors by advertising through these channels.The business model of both is CPC (Click per Cost). In other words, if someone clicks on your ad to continue to your website, you will pay a few cents per click. If that then results in a sale, it is worth it!
Europa
The numbers
Germany has a population of more than 80 million people and the Scandinavian countries more than 24 million people. By expanding to these European countries, you will triple your reach to potential customers.
6 tips for expanding to Europe
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Get an international domain name
To expand to Europe, you also need to be found in these European countries. The easiest way to become discoverable is to use an international domain name, for example a .com domain. What you can also do is register a local domain name for each country. For example, in addition to a .nl, also a .de domain name.It makes little difference to your visibility, the local domain names are only a bigger challenge on a technical level. -
Add German, English, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Finnish language to your webshop
In terms of expansion into Europe, we recommend the following countries: Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. For this reason, we also advise you to add the local languages of these countries to your webshop.You can already easily and inexpensively find a translator via platforms such as Upwork and Fiverr. You can also easily translate your WooCommerce webshop with Weglot. This has little or no negative effect on the performance of your webshop and carries out translations in real time.
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Request a German VAT number
To be allowed to sell in Germany, you must have a German VAT number. This also means that you will have to submit a German VAT return.Fortunately, there are parties that can assist you with this for a low-threshold rate: Staxxer and Dexport.
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List your products on Kaufland.de
Kaufland.de formerly known as real.de, is the largest local marketplace in Germany. Kaufland has about 22 million visitors per month. With this you expand your potential customer target group considerably.
Kaufland.de is also easy to automate in combination with your dropshipping business on WooCommerce.
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Apply local currencies
Finally, apply local currencies. Fortunately, the Netherlands, Germany and Finland have the same currency: the euro. Unfortunately, the situation is different in the Scandinavian countries.Sweden has the Swedish krona, Denmark has the Danish krone and Norway has the Norwegian krone.Make sure that, depending on the chosen languages, the correct valuation is shown. If someone is on the Swedish website, show you the Swedish krona. There are several tools that calculate the current price to show the correct price.
Conclusion