If you’re not shipping globally, you’re missing out on the opportunity to reach millions of customers around the world. However, global shipping can be complex — there are customs, duties, and logistics to consider. So how can growing brands capitalize on global commerce while navigating the intricacies of fulfilling orders worldwide?

With over a decade of experience in international shipping, Alex Yancher helps DTC e-commerce companies take their brand global. As the co-founder and CEO of Passport, he helps brands with everything from localized pricing and currency conversion to best-in-class international parcel shipping. Before founding Passport, Alex served as the COO for Lynks, one of the top three e-commerce parcel importers in the Middle East.

Through decades of experience, Alex has helped brands overcome the most common challenges of selling across the globe — and now you can, too. 

The Three Benefits of Going Global for Your DTC Brand 

Shipping internationally offers a wealth of benefits. Alex sees three as the key reasons to go global: access to more customers, lower costs, and a chance to establish your brand as a leader in a new market. 

1. Expand your customer base and revenues

Few understand the significance of global expansion. While it may seem obvious that broadening your reach expands your customer base, the true impact to your revenue is astounding.

For example, the revenue for handbags in the US — the largest market for handbags — was $13B in 2024; meanwhile, global revenue was over $68.3B — an almost 5x increase. 

Similarly, the beauty and healthcare sector is expected to generate $646.2B in revenue in 2024, while the largest market, the US again, generated only $100B. 

Simply put, the global market typically outsizes any single country’s market by a large magnitude. Introducing your product to even one additional market can have a huge impact on your sales and revenue. 

2. Lower your production costs 

Alex points out that as sales increase from your expanded customer base, you’ll be able to begin producing products in larger batches, reducing your brand’s overall cost of production. By increasing the size of your batches, you’ll achieve economies of scale, spreading the cost over a larger number of products. Discounts from suppliers on bulk orders, more efficient use of your teams’ skills, and access to better machinery all reduce individual per-unit production costs.

3. Capitalize on global trends 

Not all markets are the same for every product. Certain products sell more in some countries than others, thanks to lifestyle and other changes among the public. By going global, you’re better able to tap into those trends and find the right customer base for your product.

For instance, cruelty-free cosmetics have seen a large surge, with the market expected to double by 2032. The UK and the EU have been frontrunners in this trend, with 40% of UK beauty consumers preferring companies that offer vegan cosmetic products. Beauty brands outside of Europe who identified this trend early would have had an incredible advantage by selling their products internationally. 

The Three Challenges DTC Brands Face on the Global Journey 

While going global presents a valuable opportunity for growth, brands need to carefully consider the common operational challenges, like providing localized support, ensuring compliance, and managing fulfillment logistics. 

1. Providing a localized shopping experience

When customers land on your website, they need to have an experience consistent with their online shopping expectations. Otherwise, they may get confused and leave without making a purchase. 

Below, Alex shares some differences in the way US versus UK buyers are accustomed to shopping, such as:

• The pound symbol, instead of the dollar symbol 
• The price of a good rounded to the nearest five or ten 
• Tax baked into the price of a good 

It's a little bit confusing to them [UK customers] when US-based DTC merchants separate taxes. This confusion can lead to abandoned carts and lower conversion rates. – Alex Yancher

Every country has its own local preferences and expectations for what context retailers will provide. As such, it’s the brand’s responsibility to stay on top of nuances in the new market and give global customers a pleasant online shopping experience. 

2. Meeting each country’s regulatory requirements 

Brands need to abide by import rules and quality standards for each market, or else shipments may get detained at customs or even be deemed illegal to sell. 

For instance, US cosmetic products occasionally have high concentrations of certain chemicals that are prohibited or restricted in other countries. The US allows a 14% concentration of hydrogen peroxide, often found in teeth whitening strips. However, the EU and UK prohibit DTC sales of any products with more than 0.1% concentration of this chemical. 

Every country has its own version of regulatory bodies like the FDA, so you have to know what you're doing in terms of shipping a lot of different categories, like ingestible products or topicals. You need to have somebody familiar with the regulatory compliance for each of those markets…

3. Managing shipping and logistics for the product 

Alex adds that brands also need to provide the same level of tracking and visibility into the delivery of goods as they do with domestic shipping. No matter the origin of their package, customers expect to know where their product is and when it should arrive.

This can often make it difficult to choose the right shipping speed for different products. Alex says that high-value products like diamond rings require faster, more expensive shipping compared to low-value products. For products that cost $20, for example, the slower, cheaper method makes more sense. 

Alex’s Five-Step Plan to Launching Your Global Enterprise

As you embark on your journey to becoming a global DTC brand, Alex advises that you start slow. You don’t need to focus too much on localizing your website right away, he says. Instead, simply enable international shipping. This way, you can take advantage of the low-hanging fruit first—the global traffic you already receive. Gradually, you can provide a fully localized experience to customers, boost conversions, and mature your international business. 

Here are the steps Alex recommends to ensure success for your blossoming global business. 

Step 1: Analyze how much international traffic you have 

Before you invest resources into localizing your website for international visitors, take a look at how many global visits you get on a weekly and monthly basis. Alex recommends using tools like SimilarWeb and Google Analytics to analyze website traffic. 

You'll want to look for three things: 

1. How many of your website visitors are international? Alex says it’s worthwhile to localize your website if this is at least 20-25% of your total traffic.
2. Where do most of your international visitors come from? This indicates the markets you should target first. 
3. How much of your international traffic comprises repeat visitors? These visitors are more likely to buy from your website, rather than simply browsing. 

Based on these findings, you can begin to plan your global expansion and prepare your logistics. 

Step 2: Partner with a 3PL to handle shipping and logistics

Your relationship with your third-party logistics provider (3PL) will quickly become the bedrock of your international shipping efforts. Your 3PL partner will ensure your package reaches customers on time, complies with customs, and pays duties at the border. 

If you already work with a 3PL, reach out to them about your plans early in the process so they’re prepared to fulfill your needs. And if you’re not already partnered with a 3PL, Alex highly recommends you start researching options. 

As you’re assessing potential 3PL providers, consider these key features of a great partner:

• Shipping rates: Find partners with the lowest cost for the fastest shipping. Ask what's included in the price so there are no surprises afterward. 
• Range of services: Specifically, look for services like freight forwarding, customs brokerage, warehousing, and delivery. 
• Industry experience: Take a look at the company's previous roster of clients and read past reviews, too. 
• Technological integration: Check if they offer easy integration with your current stack of tech tools like supply chain management software and returns software. 
• Tracking and visibility: Ask what systems they have in place to keep customers informed about their package.
• Insurance: Search for a 3PL that offers transportation insurance against lost or stolen goods. 

A 3PL plays a crucial role in delivering products without any hiccups, so do your due diligence before choosing one. 

Step 3: Get started with Delivered Duties Paid

A low-risk way to start monetizing your international traffic, Delivered Duties Paid (DDP) is a method of shipping where you bake the duties into the price of a good. This allows you to capitalize on the international traffic you already receive while also getting a trial run of international shipping. 

DDP ensures customers don’t get any nasty surprises like having to pay extra if their product gets stuck in customs.

Once you've mastered the operational aspect of international shipping, you can provide website visitors with a more customized experience to increase sales.

Step 4: Localize the online shopping experience

Your brand might be generating global interest, but to boost conversions, you'll need to allow customers abroad to shop like a local, Alex says.

Some examples of localizing the shopping experience include: 

• Display local currency symbols 
• Offer different languages on your website 
• Enable local payment methods 
• Translate ads in the customer’s preferred language

By giving customers a shopping experience that feels familiar to them, you make it easier for them to finalize their purchase. They don’t have to worry about conversion rates between currencies or how to pay for the products they want. They can simply buy as they would from a local store. 

Step 5: Market to audiences based on their culture and preferences 

Each target market may have different cultural nuances and preferences. Marketing to audiences based on these preferences can help you further maximize sales for your brand. 

For example, dates of holidays often differ between countries. Based on this, “you can put together event-based top-of-funnel marketing campaigns,” Alex suggests.

Other than your marketing message, you can also tweak your product offering to each market. Take Lay’s potato chips, for example. The brand offers different flavor chips in each market, such as Yakitori Grilled Chicken in Taiwan and Thai Chili Paste in Thailand. 

Advance Your Global Journey with Implentio 

For DTC brands going global, visibility into 3PLs and your supply chain is a major challenge, often resulting in billing errors and mistakes that impact your bottom line. Implentio is an AI-powered software that helps DTC companies save time and money on reconciling 3PL invoices. 

Implentio analyzes fulfillment data to identify issues with billing, unmet SLAs, and order exceptions, then instantly requests credit from your 3PL partners for any reconciliation errors.

As a global brand powered by 3PLs, you’ll have a massive amount of invoices and line items to review. Let Implentio’s AI-powered software monitor your supply chain, so you can focus on growing your business.