Linda Kozlowski wants to get one thing straight. "I'm not Linda Kozlowski the movie star," she laughs.
But as Etsy's newly appointed chief operating officer Kozlowski had her own star pulling power as a speaker at last week's Pause Festival.
Etsy has 1.7 million sellers around the world offering products to 27 million buyers.
Kozlowski says the online marketplace's success can be attributed to starting out as an international business.
"From day one we have had buyers and sellers all over the world," she says. "Etsy has grown to be one of the largest e-commerce companies in the world based on all these micro entrepreneurs."
Kozlowski says the world is increasingly complicated with "a lot of global shifts" which mean businesses "no matter how small and how new" can benefit from thinking of themselves as global companies as early as possible.
She says there are three key ways to prepare your business to be global: data, technology and payments.
1. Data
"This is one of the most exciting things about doing business today," says Kozlowski. "If you are selling a digital product it is highly likely that customers all over the world will find the product."
Using this data allows businesses to identify where to focus their efforts.
Kozlowski says when Etsy launched in 2005 it already had sellers in Australia and New Zealand. By 2010 its seller base in Australia was the fourth largest in the world.
"We saw this is an opportunity and we needed to start taking advantage of it," Kozlowski says. Etsy moved to establish an office in Australia and reliance on data meant it was "much lower risk".
Kozlowski says Australia offers "unique" opportunities for business with the ninth highest income base and 13th largest economy in the world.
The reality is that your best bet is to make sure you are building a single global product that is the best experience for most people.
Linda Kozlowski
"There is a significant amount of income here that helps drive opportunities for ecommerce growth," she says. Kozlowski also points to Australia's high levels of internet access, multiple device use and familiarity with international trade.
2. Technology
"There is this myth out here that first thing you should do is think about a different user interface for your product because every country is different," Kozlowski says.
"The reality is that your best bet is to make sure you are building a single global product that is the best experience for most people. If you take on the task of customising for each market it is going to be impossible to maintain quality."
Etsy has focused on building a platform that operates in the same way across countries with a "baseline" of high quality user interaction.
Kozlowski acknowledges some localisation is required such as language. This was a particular challenge for Etsy as it carries 44 million product listings with many of them changing constantly.
The platform uses machine translation across 10 different languages and Kozlowski says the technology for translation continues to improve.
3. Payments
Kozlowski says payment options is one area global businesses need to nail.
"Different currencies and different payment methods are extremely important," she says.
When Etsy introduced a payment option in Japanese yen revenue increased by 25 per cent in Japan. Previously Japanese customers were required to pay in US dollars and Kozlowski says the conversion was difficult.
"People couldn't compute it in their mind," she says.
The online marketplace also boosted revenue by enabling bank transfer as a method of payment in Europe where it's a popular option.
Kozlowski says improving technology is making different payment options easier for businesses with app stores now offering multiple currency payments.
4. Marketing
But Kozlowski says there is one part of your business that should not be global.
"Marketing is the area where you should completely and totally localise," she says. "You can have a lot more fun".
Etsy's recent campaigns in Australia have included its "City to Outback" campaign and Kozlowski says focusing on your customer base in this way is an easy way to localise marketing.
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