Dr. Ecommerce Home


Ask Dr. Ecommerce a question

Q&A Alert
Latest Questions
Archives 2001
Archives 2000
Archives 1999
FAQ
Legal questions
European Institutions
Nat'l & local government
Technologies
Marketing & Selling
Definitions and Philosophy
How do I do it?
Money
General e-commerce

eThesis home
Universities and schools
eThesis best links

About Dr. Ecommerce
Discussion lists
In the news
Dr. Ecommerce speaks out

Board of experts
Legal guide
Statistics

Dr. Ecommerce,

I need your assistance. Our company, Miva Corporation, is a U.S. based company looking to expand into European markets. We produce an XML-based Web Development engine that is sold to ISPs and Web hosting companies (E-bay uses our product for its shopping cart!). I am trying to determine which European countries we should enter and how to find potential distributors in these countries. My concerns are available bandwidth, size of market (number of ISPs and Web hosting companies) and availability of payment processing services.

Dear Cameron:

Thanks for your email. There are two reasons I cannot tell you precisely which county(ies) you should enter into for two reasons:

1) There are so many advantages and disadvantages to every country that I would end up listing almost all of them in such a list.

2) If there were a clear leader (and there isn't) and I recommended it, I'd be tossed out of the European Commission so fast it would make your computer monitor spin!

The best things to do would be to do a bit of basic market research. You can get raw figure on e-commerce, internet connections, etc for a variety of sources including:

http://www.ispo.cec.be/ecommerce/links.html
http://www.nua.ie
http://www.webpromotion.co.uk/netstats.htm
http://www.diplomarbeit.com/e_statis.htm
http://www.eto.org.uk/eustats/index.htm

By reading through these statistics, you should start getting a basic feel for the various markets which most interest you. You can then study these markets in-depth, contact local chambers of commerce for more information and to arrange meetings and do searches to locate competitors and/or possible partners in those markets. Also, don't overlook embassies or consulates as information sources. Commercial Attaches exist primarily to help you do business in their markets.

In addition, why not make a Partners page on your web site? It would be similar to a Jobs page, but the page would attract partners rather than job seekers. Here, you could include your requirements, what you would expect of a partner and more.