To conquer market distribution from all existing competitors, you don’t need to be a billion-dollar global business. A sophisticated and well-planned growth strategy for business expansion will affect your dominance in the field in the long term.
However, growth leads to risk. Successful companies combine multiple strategies to achieve growth, including distribution, market penetration, strategic partnerships, international expansion, and opening up new channels.
Read on to learn five of the most influential business growth strategies brands use to topple the competition.
What makes a business expansion effective?
Before we look at specific growth strategies, we have to get to the insights on best principles, relying on which your upscaling design could only work.
Focusing on core competencies and deep audience insight is crucial for a successful business. For example, Walmart has become the world’s largest retailer by focusing on low prices and satisfying customers’ needs better than its competitors.
Growth marketing requires a combination of creativity, flexibility, and perseverance. For example, Shopify was founded initially to sell snowboards but eventually realized they were better at developing e-commerce software. Their willingness to pivot in small and large ways helped them achieve their growth objectives.
Opening new channels
New sources usually rank among the top 10 strategies for business expansion, as they allow companies to expand their reach without changing their products or services. E-commerce businesses like Allbirds have used both online and brick-and-mortar channels to grow revenue, which has increased by growing their real-world presence. Whereas Allbirds was exclusively online initially, they currently boast 29 stores.
Some companies introduce new distribution channels that have a ripple effect throughout their industries. Salesforce is an example of this. It introduced cloud-based subscription software in an industry dominated by powerful, expensive, complex enterprise software. Salesforce proliferated and today is a $21 billion company. Today’s software industry is filled with other SaaS offerings.
Market penetration: Increase your market share
Digging deeper into the market depth is an excellent strategy for undersized businesses. It involves selling more existing products or successfully promoting a new one. You can accomplish this goal by offering ways of customer experience, offering discounts on larger orders, or reducing the cost to beat a competitor’s similar offering. Yes, sometimes, for successful business expansion, you need to take a step back to make two forward.
Businesses that sell products similar to their competitors can use price as a short-term strategy for market expansion. For instance, companies with generic products (such as household cleaning supplies) may benefit from lower prices.
If you cannot increase the number of products you offer and must continue to promote existing products, you can make them more attractive by offering gifts or discounts on future purchases.
Partnerships: Join forces with complementary businesses
While most large companies acquire or merge with other companies to grow, smaller brands often need that option for scaling business expansion. How may we see it affecting small-medium entrepreneurs?
Small businesses sometimes partner with each other to grow successfully. Partnerships provide several benefits, including access to additional workforce, skill sets, knowledge, equipment, and technology.
For example, entrepreneurs in complementary fields such as plumbing and electric services might cooperate for both-side benefits with a more significant market share by providing construction services as a package. Customers save time, money, and potential construction delays by eliminating the need to find and contract with separate providers.
Amazon’s retail dominance began in 1995 when it launched and gained traction among consumers who had not previously purchased products online. Despite the company’s success, its growth path was not without obstacles; for example, competitors like eBay and Barnes & Noble threatened Amazon’s growth until it introduced its 1-Click purchasing system in 1999.
Diversification for business expansion
While other online retailers focused on the internet as a new medium for selling goods, Amazon built its brand by offering customers a way to buy specifically online (a new concept at the time) in a new market: the internet. Amazon’s growth strategy built customer trust by ensuring reliable service and fast shipping times.
- Amazon expanded its customer base by offering a more extensive selection of books than brick-and-mortar bookstores could and by providing customers with immediate access to information about the availability of titles.
- Amazon first established itself as a bookseller, then expanded into other areas, such as selling DVDs and electronics. It has continued its business expansion and now sells groceries and even healthcare products.
International Business Expansion Strategy
One benefit of expanding business internationally is that it can diversify a company’s revenue stream and market share and expand its operations. This can be beneficial in increasing profitability while reducing risk. It can help you expand your business by broadening your access to alternative funding sources, which can be helpful if one funding source dries up. You may develop the company culture abroad by embracing diversity and inclusiveness. You can also take advantage of international tax incentives when starting a business there. For example, India has recently slashed its corporation tax from 30% to 22%. As one of the fastest-growing tech markets in the world, this could be extremely useful for businesses to utilize.
Co-employment models are a growing trend in the workplace. A PEO like Acvian itself is a business that handles all of your human resource management needs, including payroll and benefits. This type of organization is especially helpful for small businesses that have employees working abroad.
A PEO is an organization that provides outsourced HR services for businesses without a physical presence in the country. Through this model, PEOs act as both employer and employee representatives for companies that want to expand into new markets or hire international employees.
Conclusion
A scalable plan popularizes your brand by making practical steps and keeping its vision in mind. The tips mentioned above will kick you into forming a successful business expansion plan vital to scaling your business. So, follow them and let your startup or entrepreneurship reach great heights.
Acvian offers turn-key solutions for international business expansion. With more than 20 years of collective experience in the field and representative offices in 118 countries, Acvian can help your company reach new markets at lower overall costs.
