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Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
LACK of online presence is negatively impacting the country’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)’ prospects of penetrating the export market, an official said.
Speaking at a ZimTrade SMEs export awareness seminar in Bulawayo last week, the trade promotions body’s associate trainer Miss Nomagugu Ndlovu said SMEs have the potential to drive export-led economic growth and enhance their brands’ visibility to potential customers through utilising online services as well as various social media platforms.
“I think it’s important for any business or company exporting to have an online presence whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or having a website to adequately support their brand and improve their operational capacity.
“A lot of people are spending time on their phones so it is important for businesses to be able to infiltrate people’s cellphones.
This is very beneficial because your customers will begin to talk about you and can easily do referrals when you are present on the internet,” she said.
Miss Ndlovu said social and digital media presence plays a pivotal role in improving interaction between businesses and their potential clients, both local and international.
“Being online improves engagement between business and customers using platforms like Facebook which gives you the power to understand the needs of your customers quicker and give them feedback where necessary.
“Online presence also gives companies an opportunity to sell their products regardless of geographical locations and be able to transport them to different customer-based locations,” she said.
Another associate trainer, Mr Shadreck Zhou said being in position of a bankable business plan was of paramount importance towards pursuing lucrative export markets.
“As ZimTrade we are saying for businesses to be able to start exporting, we recommend that they have appealing bankable business plans.
“This is a formal document which describes a business, its context, goals and objectives, current status, as well as plans or strategies to achieve its goals.
“This will help SMEs to expand into other markets regionally and internationally as it acts as guidance to whatever they are intending to achieve, so that when implementing their export strategy it becomes easier for them to access support from different partners, financiers, investors or markets,” said Mr Zhou.
He said companies should first embark on feasibility studies before tapping into export markets.
“Exporters need to be very clear on their entry strategy because it is a critical area in decision making for any company. They need to make decisions on whether they can go directly or indirectly into the export markets.
“They can export directly after identifying customers in foreign markets or if they are going to do it indirectly they also need to make decisions on whom they are going to use as their partner on the export business, whether they are working with local partners, agents, brokers or they are working with foreign representatives or agents.
“Hence one has to make such decisions very clearly to avoid risks and disadvantages,” said Mr Zhou.
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