International Marketing: Exporting, Consumer Behavior, and Trends

This essay delves into the multifaceted realm of international marketing, concentrating on the pivotal aspects of export marketing and consumer behavior. It begins by defining international marketing and differentiating it from global marketing, highlighting the significance of exporting in international business. The essay then outlines crucial criteria for successful export marketing, including understanding export trends, assessing production capacity, analyzing consumer behavior, evaluating market demand, considering trade restrictions, and recognizing shifts in spending patterns. The discussion further explores the influence of cultural dimensions on consumer behavior, referencing the work of de Mooij and Hofstede, and examines how factors such as income, media, and technology contribute to the convergence and divergence of consumer behavior across different cultures. The essay emphasizes the interdependency between cultural dimensions and consumer behavior, underscoring their impact on international business success.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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International marketing refers to the business activities of more than one country in terms
of the application of the general marketing principles. However, the international marketing is
not the global marketing, though the two terms seem to the similar. The global and international
marketing are interchangeable. The marketing strategies of the multinational organization or
company are referred to the international marketing as one of the marketing area of the same
which is further based on the marketing, targeting, identification and decisions on the
international basis (Terpstra, Foley and Sarathy 2012). Trade is one of the primary and the basic
elements of the international marketing which includes import and export. However, the export
is found to be the fundamental and basis of the international marketing. Therefore, the role of the
exporting in the international business and marketing is important and the necessary for the
sustainability of the organization in the international market. The following essay focuses on the
export marketing and the consumer behavior as one of the vital factors of the same.
Export marketing entails the exporting of goods to other countries according to the
business terms and procedures of the exporting as well as the importing countries. For the
exporting o the goods the both the exporting and the importing countries has to maintain and
follow certain regulations and laws proposed by the government of two countries. In addition,
the exporting country must consider and follow certain criteria that determine the successful
exporting of the goods as well as the future sustainability of the same in the importing country
(Singh and Kaur 2014).
The first criteria for the exporting are the understanding of the present trends in the
export and plan the strategies for the exporting of the goods accordingly. The trends in the export
refers to the present demand and the need o the consumers in the international context and
understanding the lacks of the importing countries the in fulfilling the demands of the

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consumers. The recommendation for the exporting companies refers to the study of the trends of
the past five years in the international business and marketing. Therefore, according to the study
of the trends over the five year the company must produce their product and plan their strategies
in order to fulfill the initial criteria of the exporting.
The second criterion refers to the production capacity and the product availability of the
company to meet the demand of the international consumers. It is the responsibility of exporting
company to choose its product which has the enough availability or for which the company has
capacity for sufficient production. This criterion must be followed by the company in order to
meet the desired quantities of the consumers in the international market. The capacity and the
availability of the product by the company will ensure the success of the company in the
international market.
The next criterion is based on the consumer behavior of the importing countries. The
exporting company must investigate and understand the adaptability of the product by the
consumers. It may happen that the consumers of the importing country have the adaptability of
certain product, which the consumers of another importing country do not have. Therefore,
examining the adaptability of the international consumers must be taken into account by the
exporting company in order to decide the export of the product to the specific countries.
The demand of the potential export market is another important criterion that determines
the successful exporting of the product in the international market. This demand is further based
on the factors including demographic or physical environment, political environment, economic
environment, cultural or social environment, market assessment and the potential of the product.
All the factors indicates the demand of the products as well as the potential of the product to

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fulfill the same such as the demographic environment refers to the population of the importing
country, political and socio-cultural environment refers to the individual adaptability of the
products, market assessment presents the risk and opportunities of the market, and the potential
of the product entails the ability of the product in fulfilling the demand of consumers.
The next criterion indicates the trade restriction by the exporting as well as the importing
counties for the international business across the borders. There can be restriction from the
government on both the exporting and importing of the products according to the regulations or
legislations. In other hand, the restriction on certain products can refer to the public safety and
health, environment protection and so on (Musso and Francioni 2014). Hence, the exporting
company must consider and follow the laws and regulation in the context of the international
business in terms of exporting the goods.
The shift in the spending pattern is another major criterion for the exporting companies
in the exporting of the products across the borders. The financial ability of the consumers
determines the spending patterns of the same on the certain products. In broader sense, the
economical condition is the determinate of the spending pattern of the consumers on certain
imported product (Bilgic et al. 2013). Therefore, the any change in economical condition of the
importing countries can shift the spending pattern of the customers. Hence, the exporting
company must consider the shift in the spending pattern of the customers to before exporting to
any specific country.
The last and final criterion for exporting is the quality of the product and the niche
marketing. It is recommended to the exporting companies that they must ensure the quality of
their exporting product and effective and niche marketing of the same in the importing country.

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For the niche marketing of the product or the goods, it is implied that the exporting company
must acquire both new and traditional method in order to reach every customers and attract them
in the international context of business (Koh 2015).
The basic discussion of the article of de Mooij’s is based on the consumers’ behavior in
terms of international business (De Mooij and Hofstede 2002). The basic focus of the country is
on the divergence and convergence in the behavior of the consumers which implied on the
international business. As discussed previously in the essay the behavior of the consumers on
certain product determines the successful and effective business of the company producing the
product for the international business. The articles implies that the homogenization of the
consumer behavior is based o the cultural differences within the country. In other hand, the
convergence of the consumer income across the country manifests the value difference and
makes the same stronger. In the article, the author presents an argument on the consumer
behavior which is based on the various factors. The convergence in the consumer behavior
comes from income, media and the technology and leads the same towards the homogenization
of the consumer needs, lifestyle and taste. For example, the any cross border music channel
showing new trend of music show is able to influence teenagers in the global context and as the
result the global teenagers will possess and show similar values irrespective of their countries.
The argument of de Mooij is centralized by the cultural dimension of the different
countries in terms of the acceptance of the international business products and service. The
article presents analyzed divergence and convergence in the ownership, consumption and the
usage of the wide range of the service and products across the countries. In addition, the cultural
dimension of Hofstede is exemplified in the article which refers to the socio-cultural and
psychological factor based on the demographic aspect are influential on the consumption

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variation (Hofstede 2010). The cultural dimension refers to the power distance of the society
within the culture, which further indicates that the consumption of the product according to the
consumer behavior based on the power distance. The next dimension refers to the individualism
and collectivism which is major factors indicating divergence as well as the convergence in the
consumer behavior. The next dimension, the uncertainty avoidance refers to the consumer
behavior in certain culture in terms of their cultural beliefs and practices. The final dimension is
the long-term or short-term orientation by consumers based on the perspective of the society,
which is further a major and important indication of the consumer behavior in terms of the
divergence and convergence. Therefore, to understand cultural influence on the behavior of the
consumers based on the consumption of the product or the service, it is necessary to understand
the cultural dimension of the international business context including the import and export as
reflected by the article of de Mooij.
The argumentative article presents that the cultural dimension of any country is capable
of converging as well as diverging the consumer behavior as based on the needs, capacity,
demands and overall perspective of the society (De Mooij and Hofstede 2002). For example of
the divergence, the food preferences of the two cultures can be different and the behavior of the
consumer can diverge according to that for the same food exported by the company into two
different countries. In other hand, launch of any vegetarian new food product in the market can
determine the behavior of the consumers which are vegetarian by culture, which can be
considered as the convergence of the consumer behaviors. As stated above in the essay and
reflected by the author idea of consumer behavior on convergence and divergence the technology
can also determine the behavior of the consumer. For example, any online retail industry is
capable of influencing its customer with the help of the help of the social media and behavior of

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the consumers from the global context will be the same for certain product of the company. This
is an example of the converging behavior of the consumers. This same online retail company is
capable of diverging the consumer behaviors by proposing different offers to the global
customers as per the cultural needs and demand of the same. Therefore, the arguments in the
article are justified in terms of the different cultural dimension as well as the factor influencing
international business (De Mooij and Hofstede 2002).
Therefore, it is evident from the above discourse that the cultural dimension and the
consumer behavior is internally dependent and linked that is capable of influencing the
international business of a company. In addition, there is presence of the other factors that
determines the success of the product as well as the consumers’ behavior in the context of the
international business. Moreover, the success of the international business and the acquisition of
the product or the service by the exporting company to a major extent is dependent on the
behavior of the consumers and determined by the same. For the better understating of the topic
the article of the converging and diverging behavior of the consumers has been presented in the
essay which reflects importance and capability of the culture on the specific product.

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Reference:
Bilgic, A., Florkowski, W.J., Yen, S.T. and Akbay, C., 2013. Tobacco spending patterns and
their health-related implications in Turkey. Journal of Policy Modeling, 35(1), pp.1-15.
De Mooij, M. and Hofstede, G., 2002. Convergence and divergence in consumer behavior:
implications for international retailing. Journal of retailing, 78(1), pp.61-69.
Hofstede, G., 2010. Geert hofstede. National cultural dimensions.
Koh, A.C., 2015. An Evaluation of the Current Export Marketing Practices of United States
Firms. In Proceedings of the 1989 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual
Conference (pp. 198-202). Springer, Cham.
Musso, F. and Francioni, B., 2014. International strategy for SMEs: criteria for foreign markets
and entry modes selection. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 21(2),
pp.301-312.
Singh, F. and Kaur, M., 2014. Bank Choice Criteria of Exporting SMEs. SAMVAD, 7, pp.37-50.
Terpstra, V., Foley, J. and Sarathy, R., 2012. International marketing. Naper Press.