Cross-Border Marketplace Launch
Playbook for taking a US-native brand into UK and SA marketplaces: listing localization, compliance, fulfillment, and pricing strategy codified into a repeatable launch motion.
01 - The Challenge
Every cross-border launch tends to get treated as a one-off project: which market, what to localize, how to handle VAT and compliance, who fulfills, what the landed cost does to pricing. Teams re-answer the same questions from scratch each time, launches slip, and the second market never gets cheaper than the first.
02 - The Approach
I codified the launch motion I'd run repeatedly (taking products live across US, UK, and South African marketplaces) into a sequence a team can execute without me in the room. Market selection criteria first, then a localization pass that goes beyond translation (search terms, sizing conventions, imagery norms), then compliance and fulfillment routing decided before a single listing goes live, with pricing built from landed cost up rather than home-market price across.
03 - What I Built
A 90-day launch plan that sequences market selection, localization, compliance, fulfillment, and pricing, each gate with explicit owners and exit criteria
Listing localization checklists that cover search behavior, units and sizing, imagery, and claims rules per market, not just translated copy
A landed-cost pricing model that accounts for freight, duties, VAT, marketplace fees, and FX before setting market pricing
A compliance and fulfillment decision matrix: what each market requires, and when to use FBA, 3PL, or local stock
04 - The Outcome
Launching a new market became a checklist instead of a bespoke project. The same motion has carried products into three markets across three continents, and each pass through it gets faster because the playbook absorbs what the last launch learned.
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