DFO co-founder and president Jordan Rolband and chief marketing officer Alex Brown presented at ECML San Diego in March 2019 on scaling eCommerce globally.

1. GOING GLOBAL
Tips and Insight to Effectively Scale your eCommerce Business Outside of the U.S.
Jordan Rolband
President & Co-Founder
DFO Global Performance Commerce
Alex Brown
Chief Marketing Officer
DFO Global Performance Commerce

2. Who We Are
Jordan
No, that hat doesn’t
come off
Alex
Fantasizes about
Shooter McGavin

3. What We Do
We Market Great Products Online

4. What We Do
We Market Great Products Online
We’re some of the most
creative eCommerce minds in
the business, and by building
out high-converting funnels
we put our affiliates in a
position to succeed.
We ideate, develop, and
manufacture high-quality, well-
received and highly-reviewed
products – for ourselves and
clients – that consumers love.
The secret sauce – our
proprietary technology. We’ve
built solutions tailored to solve
problems faced by product
owners and marketers.
CRM Solution

5. Let’s Get Moving
Who Here is a
Global Marketer?

6. Why Go Global?

7. Why Go Global?
Global eCommerce
Spend 2018
$2.2 Trillion $4.5 Trillion
Global eCommerce
Spend 2021
FIGURE IS SET TO DOUBLE IN THREE YEARS

8. Why Go Global?
China - $672b
US - $340b
UK - $99b
Japan - $79b
Germany - $73b
France - $43b
South Korea - $37b
Russia - $30b
Canada - $30b
Brazil - $19b
Top 10
Largest
eCommerce
Markets
$400B+ IN THESE EIGHT MARKETS ALONE

9. Why Go Global?
UK - $4,201
US - $3,428
South Korea - $2,591
France - $1.946
China - $1,855
Australia - $1,764
Canada - $1,746
Japan - $1,488
Israel - $1,361
Germany - $1,283
Top 10
eCommerce
Spends Per
Capita
RIDICULOUS GLOBAL BUYING POWER!

10. Caution!
Going Global
is No Easy Task
There are tons of factors that
must be considered

11. Key Factors (for Global Expansion)
MARKETING
BANKING
TRAFFIC

12. Marketing
Components of a Global Marketing Campaign
1. Understand the Culture and What You’re Selling
2. Traffic Sources
3. Translations
4. Compliance
5. Communications & Customer Support
6. Economics & Geopolitics

13. Understand the Culture
• What do they hold dear?
• Significance of family vs. individual?
• What’s historically relevant?
• Are there hidden metaphors?
Marketing
Understand the Culture and What You’re Selling
Understand What You’re Selling
• Do they want it?
• Is it valuable to them?
• What are their purchasing habits?
• Is it going to resonate?
A Story
Skin Care in Japan

14. Research engagement and
purchase patterns by geography
Find and identify native sources
Marketing
Traffic Sources

15. Ensure all assets are translated appropriately
• Don’t just ‘check the box’
• If you use a translation service, check it!
• Spend time & money to get it done right
Best Practice
Use Local Talent
Marketing
Translations
Be Careful
It can go very,
very wrong.

16. Marketing
Translations Gone Wrong
“Pepsi Brings You Back
From the Grave”
“Rush to Die”
“Brothel”
“Suffer from Diarrhea”“Tiny Male Genitals”
“It takes a sexually-stimulated
man to make a chicken affectionate”

17. Ensure all assets meet geographic regulations
• All markets vary
• Vertical complexity changes by market
• Do your homework
• Think about spending time there
Marketing
Compliance
An Example
Germany
+
Impressums

18. Localize! Localize! Localize!
An Example
Brazilian Conversions
Marketing
Communications & Customer Support
Ensure Proper
Customer Support Channels
An Example
How Do Customers Want Support?

19. The Factors (for Global Expansion)
MARKETING
BANKING
TRAFFIC

20. Pro
• Local payment options have a
tremendous effect on approvals and,
ultimately, sales
Banking
Pros & Cons of Localizing Your Banking
Con(s)
• Complicated and confusing
• Even one mistake is costly

21. Beware Tricky
Currency Situations
A Story
Brazilian Fluctuations
Economics & Geopolitics
Corruption is Costly
A Story
Argentinian Thieves
Banking

22. Banking
The Takeaways
Go Local
Local/domestic entities
should be utilized to
avoid “company-killing”
scenarios
Get Backup
Double and triple-up on
solutions. Don’t leave
yourself exposed.
Make Pals
PayPal – and its credit
card processing – is a
ubiquitous, global game-
changer.

23. The Factors (for Global Expansion)
MARKETING
BANKING
TRAFFIC

24. Getting into Global Traffic
Traffic
• Focus on finding strategic partners that are experts in your vertical
• For early stage businesses a network can provide a low-risk entry to new markets
and new traffic sources – they can also advise you based on their experience with
other clients. Verve is a good starting point but many options out there.
• Later stage businesses can improve profitability by building direct traffic
relationships. Spy tools, traffic centric conferences are the way to start.

25. Pro(s)
• Tremendous scale
• Tap into new traffic sources
• Easily test new angles
• Find new and better ways to market
the product in new geos
Traffic
Pros & Cons of Using 3rd Party Affiliates
Con(s)
• Need for controls
• Traffic is not created equally
• Poor quality traffic can result in lower
AOV, lower profitability, and
potentially much more serious issues

26. The Takeaways
Research Required
Research helps
determine who
specializes in what,
where, what they’re
spending, and on what
platform.
Share the Wealth
Consider your affiliates
as part of your internal
team. Brainstorm
marketing angles;
provide quality assets.
Teamwork,
Dreamwork
Your affiliates need to be
able to scale with you.
Have the internal
infrastructure in place to
support.
Traffic

27. Scaling Globally – Parting Thoughts
GOING GLOBAL
Now is the time to take advantage
of this enormous opportunity

28. Get In Touch
Jordan Rolband
Jordan.Rolband@dfo.global
Alex Brown
Alex.Brown@dfo.global
Build Your Brand
info@dfo.global
www.dfo.global
@dfoglobalpc