“Target in the US is different to Target Australia – it has a broader product range, with a real focus on innovation, and huge beauty and grocery departments. They were a great launch partner to have, as it meant other major retailers were quickly interested,” she said.
Building profile and scaling at speed
Jackson said the right partnerships and coverage in the trade press helped RangeMe open doors in the US market.
“Make yourself known – it’s important to put yourself out there, to meet with the right partners, and to pursue PR and media opportunities antigua and barbuda cell phone database which will help get your business in front of people,” she says.
And while RangeMe had built success in Australia, the US market was different, so what worked well here, was not necessarily effective there.
“Because of the size of the US market, we had to scale quickly to saturate the market,” Jackson said.
“While we didn’t have any obvious competitors when we launched RangeMe, we knew that could change quickly, and we didn’t have time to do things slowly – we had to act while we had that competitive advantage.
“In Australia we’d been onboarding 200- 300 new suppliers a month, once we expanded to the US this jumped to 4000-5000 a month and fast forward to today we onboard around 10,000 new suppliers per month. So onboarding at scale with minimal friction was essential.”
An innovative market
It wasn’t until they were on the ground in the US that the RangeMe team could truly understand the people and processes they needed.
“We quickly realised we needed a head of customer success to support our customer growth, and a head of growth and marketing. We also needed automation in our tools and processes, so that we could onboard suppliers at scale,” she said.
“In Australia we had no idea about the kind of roles we might need in the US – they just weren’t common at that point in time.”
And while the US market delivered different challenges, it’s also presented huge opportunities.
“The US is generally a market which is really open to innovation and change, and that surprised us. People there are very open to new ideas and very entrepreneurial in their mindset,” Jackson said.
“It was really encouraging for us, and our decision to expand into the US quickly paid off, thanks to our innovative business approach, and to the sheer size and scale of the US retail market.”
Jackson said that for any Australian companies looking to crack the international retail market, “RangeMe is a great way to start getting your product in front of retailers”. It uses a freemium model, so you can start with a free profile, and see what opportunities are out there. You can find out more at rangeme.com.
Here are Jackson’s top 5 tips for Australian companies looking to scale in the US.
Know the market and understand your competitors. What are they doing, where are they operating, which markets are they playing in? Really know who you’re competing with, who’s behind them, and how much finance they’ve raised. It’s an expensive exercise, so you need to understand the competition.
Live and breathe in the market
Understand the US market, and invest in mini trips to get to understand the opportunities and get a view on the lay of the land.
Don’t underestimate the costs of relocating a business. For example the administration costs of becoming a US entity. This is expensive, and a lot of places need this before they’ll invest capital. Establishing a team and hiring people is also expensive, so be prepared.
You don’t have to get your business model right in Australia first. Don’t delay a US market launch because you’re still perfecting your Aussie business model, as your business model in the new market may change. If you have an opportunity and there’s no-one in the US doing what you’re doing, you need to get there quickly – the market potential is incredible.
Surround yourself with the right people. People who can help you. Being well-networked can really help open doors.