The next time you're planning an international expansion for your business or service, Google has some tips on when and where you should go.
Google Canada has formed a partnership with Export Development Canada to offer Canada's roughly 2 million small and medium sized businesses a window to the world with a graphic and data-heavy picture of Canada's key export markets.
"With 60 per cent of Canada's GDP dependent on trade and only 4 per cent of Canadian companies exporting, it's a conversation that needs more attention," said Todd Winterhalt, vice-president, international business development, EDC.
"I look at the glass as half full," says Google Canada's country director Sam Sebastian. While only 5 per of Canada's SMBs are exporting, at least half of them have websites. "Let's make sure we're broadcasting their message around the world. If we can help a business generate $100-million in export revenue, it will create 1,000 jobs."
Google's contribution to this Export Business Map is focused on "the moments that matter" according to Mr. Sebastian. The map isn't a map in a traditional sense, but rather a presentation of geographic data: Each of Canada's top 10 export partners gets a large, dense circular graphic that shows all the key seasons and holidays for a country, and attempts to identify whether they might represent a retailing opportunity. For example, it tells you about Japan's Oseibo holiday, a summertime gift-giving holiday for expressing gratitude to co-workers, bosses, teachers and the like.
In the United States (which bought $403-billion in Canadian exports in 2014 according to Industry Canada), Black Friday and Cyber Monday are listed as shopping events around Thanksgiving. China, Canada's second-largest export target with $19-billion in 2014, would seem to have far fewer retail launch opportunities, but the Chinese New Year is coupled with an "Annual Bonus" which does see an uptick in shopping and travel spending.
"Retail is the lowest hanging fruit and it tends to be where digital took off first," says Mr. Sebastian, but he also noted some B2B opportunities, and even some key travel and technology openings.
One of the case studies for a small business going international is shoe maker Manitobah Mukluks.
"We're Canada's fastest growing footwear brand, and export online is our fastest growing market," said Josh Fine, chief brand officer and a partner in the company.
"We have sold to 47 countries online. We've literally sold to the Antarctic … to South Africa, just strange places. We worked with Google ad words to target 25 different markets. And what we find is that our top selling products in California are the same as our top-selling products in Winnipeg."
In this case, it's the $199 Snowy Owl Mukluk. "A brand our size doesn't have marketing dollars – what the web has allowed me to do is spend money on telling our story."
The map also presents several demographic details as "exporting opportunities" from the population size, to the web-using population for the rest of the top 10 (United Kingdom, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Mexico, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong). For instance, South Korea and the Netherlands have the highest share of their populace online, while Mexico and Italy have the lowest.
The Internet search giant will unveil the program and a new website at the City of Toronto Export Forum on Thursday. Mayor John Tory and minister of state for small business Maxime Bernier are expected to be on hand.
"This isn't totally revolutionary, but it is a start," Mr. Sebastian said. "What I love about what's going on in Canada right now is we have folks enabling and collaborating, [SMBs] have options like Shopify and Google. With the current economic conditions, the dollar … The time is now."
Shane Dingman