By:

Patrick Perreault - CEO, Getting to Global & Aycha Fleury - Content Editor, Getting to Global

Historically, independent small businesses have largely been excluded from participating in global trade because of the significant costs associated with exporting. However, in recent years barriers to accessing international customers have been receding because of the development and growth of ecommerce and the digital marketplace. Platforms like eBay are providing a pathway for small businesses to open with minimal start-up costs and reach outside of their local markets to compete globally. And, eBay research shows that small businesses around the world are actively taking advantage of these new opportunities.   

Exporting can be complicated, though, especially for those small businesses that are just getting started. This is one of the reasons eBay helped sponsor Getting to Global, an initiative designed to amplify the resources – from the private and public sectors – available to help small businesses grow their exports.

Here, at Getting to Global, we advocate ecommerce as an ideal first contact with the big wide world of trade. We create custom workshops and webinars, bringing together experts and representatives of companies who have embarked on their global journey and are ready to share their experience.

Our goal is to help you get in touch with the resources in your region, because you’re not alone! Almost half of non-exporting companies in the US have said that they would be interested in exporting if some of their concerns were addressed. So, if you’re one of them, Getting to Global is for you!

Our approach is simple, and yet highly efficient: we consolidate all the information, resources, expertise, and tools you need to expand globally. We work with organizations on the ground to bring new innovative tools and content to help companies like yours start exporting.

Every month, thousands of small businesses visit our website to calculate potential taxes on their goods using our Duties and Taxes Calculator. Or, they come to try our Export Accelerator, designed to help them find the right market for their products or services, with a personalized Export Dashboard. Others come to try some of our search tools, including trade leads, trade events or export assistance centers.

Here’s the thing though: the journey to global expansion is not an easy one. And, when the time comes to tackle bigger challenges, the best first step is to talk to someone. That someone should be an expert in their field to make your journey easier. And that’s why we created Export Connect.

This new platform was launched last September and is attracting new experts every day. With a series of major improvements and partnership announcements coming in 2020, Export Connect will become an even better one-stop-shop platform that connects companies to all the experts they need to go global.

Our goal is not to replace all the work already done on the ground by private and public entities. In fact, we see our role as giving them the tools and support they want to serve small businesses better. Our ultimate goal is to make it easier for you, the small companies, to find the resource available to you. And we want to make it easier for them to deliver the best services to you.

You’d like to know more? Find us on social media! We are on Facebook (@gettingtoglobal), Instagram (gettingtoglobal), and LinkedIn (Getting to Global).

If you’d like to know more about Getting to Global and Export Connect in your area, contact your regional trade promotion organization or write to us at info@gettingtoglobal.org.