Falling in Love Was the Easy Part

©2018 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Falling in love was the easy part; planning a wedding - yikes!" -- Niecy Nash

Amazon Prime Day Ignites Global SME Sales

©iStock/Jaroslaw Killian

Data from Statista show that Small Business Saturday in 2017 generated around $2.43 billion in ecommerce retail sales in the U.S. That figure doesn’t get further broken down by the actual size of businesses that generated revenue, or by ecommerce platform, so it’s fair to assume that it includes all retail activity on that day.

"Prime Day [Amazon] is just getting started for us, but we're already seeing 10 times our average day sales," Kelly Fedio of One Savvy Life, a small business that sells on Amazon, said in a statement.

Learn more about how global small-, medium-sized business sales eclipse $1 billion on  Amazon Prime Day.

Making Global Trade Inclusive

©iStock/IgorSPb

Helping SMEs access world markets is the first step to a more inclusive trading system according to Diane Wang, Founder and CEO of cross-border e-commerce platform DHgate.com, who started out as a small businesswoman herself.

In 2004 Ms. Wang launched DHgate, a startup, that is now a global technology platform helping empower other small businesses to access global markets.

Learn more about how DHgate helps SMEs penetrate the global trade elite.

Global Strategy: McDonald's

4 Easy Steps to Developing an Export Marketing Plan

©iStock/Tzido

Developing an export marketing plan doesn't have to be a gut-wrenching experience.  Quite the contrary.

Every successful marketing plan begins with thorough market research. As stated in the article I [Laurel Delaney] wrote below, your first market research project is usually the toughest because it's all unfamiliar terrain. But once you have collected the data you need to predict how a specific type of product will sell in a specific geographic location, you can use the information over and over again as a guideline for exports of similar products.

Biggest tip:  Try to begin with the end in mind: Where do you want to go and how will you know that you have arrived?

Discover the 4 easy steps to developing an export marketing plan here.

Today in Global Small Business: How JD.com Uses AI to Take on Competitors

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Leveling the global trading field for SMEs.
• Policy brief on women's entrepreneurship (by OECD).  Direct access to report.
• The High Growth Handbook -- read if you are ready to learn and scale.
• How Chinese retailer JD.com uses AI to take on major competitors.
• Read how the franchising industry has been rapidly expanding over the past few years, with many national and international players taking the industry by storm.
• Registration is OPEN for wegg's™ September 12th Chicago morning event starring Julie Smolyansky, President and CEO, Lifeway Foods, who will talk about "Follow Your Gut."  To learn more and to register, visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/weggtm-workshop-follow-your-gut-presented-by-julie-smolyansky-tickets-48655708534

Red Cures Sadness

©2018 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Red is the ultimate cure for sadness." -- Bill Blass

Global Trade is the Future of Business

©iStock/AvigatorPhotographer

FedEx released an infographic that shows how small business leaders look at global trade as the future of their business and why it is important for policy makers to consider the impact on micro and small businesses owners.

Key finding:  A majority of U.S. small business leaders (82 percent) see increasing U.S. trade as beneficial to the U.S. economy, up from 76 percent earlier this year.

Access the infographic here.

Setting Up a Company Culture That Serves the World

How Many of the World's Most Beautiful and Endangered Destinations Have You Been To?

©iStock/RudyBalasko

Take a look at 30 places to visit before they are gone forever.  Should you be lucky enough to visit any one of these magnificent places, tread lightly as it might extend the life of these wonders just a bit longer.

As provided by Architectural Digest ... read more.

Is South Africa Out of Step on Global SME Growth Trends?

©iStock/jacoblund

Is South Africa a "complete outlier" internationally when it comes to employment creation by small and medium-sized enterprises?  It raises questions about possible policy and regulatory failure.

Initial findings of a new study by the Small Business Institute (SBI) and the Small Business Project (SBP), released on Tuesday, found SA has only 250,000 formal SMEs, less than previous estimates of between 2-million and 6-million.

Is South African completely out of step with global SME growth trends?  Read more.

Today in Global Small Business: Take Your Business Global! weggchat™ August 8th

©2018 Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global.  All rights reserved.

What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Join a weggchat™ via Twitter with Laurel Delaney on "Take Your Business Global!" August 8 at 11:00 a.m. Central time.  Instructions here.  You must have a Twitter account to join.  Have your questions ready!
• Ways to optimize your technology supply chain.
• Businesses planning to go global should build their processes to follow the toughest privacy standards.
• In Sri Lanka, Mastercard makes it easier for businesses to accept electronic payments, regardless of a payment brand.
• Starbucks and Alibaba are looking together to transform coffee consumption in a nation once known for tea.
• More UK SMEs are selling internationally than at anytime within the last year, with 32% making at least one foreign transaction a month.

Image used with permission by:  Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global (wegg™)