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Richard Gnant, a computer wizard from Scottsdale, Ariz., began to sell computer accessories overseas through the mail. "Why get stuck in the U.S. when there are 167 countries on the globe that I can sell to?" says Mr. Gnant, 39.
To sell abroad, Mr. Gnant arranged for a delivery service, an incoming 800 phone line and an easy means for customers to pay for his product--courtesy of Federal Express, AT&T and MasterCard International.
Mr. Gnant placed an ad for his company--Express Technology Inc.--in a British computer magazine, giving his U.S. 800 number. He hired International Direct Marketing Consultants in Dallas, and in the first month pulled in some $20,000, a take that doubled within 30 days. Today, Express Technology's sales total $5 million.
Other U.S. companies are using direct marketing to sell their goods abroad. Expenditures for direct mail are expected to swell from $24.6 billion last year to some $34.2 billion in 1995, according to Veronis, Suhler & Associates, a New York research firm. A growing percentage is headed overseas.
"With international credit cards and toll-free calling, companies are at last discovering that they can export their products without building a foreign plant," says Bill McNutt, president of International Direct Marketing Consultants. "They can use direct marketing instead."
The advantages of selling direct overseas are easy to spot. For one, Europe and Asia are growing direct mail markets. The typical European household receives only 50 pieces of direct mail a year, compared with more than 200 for premium-weary Americans.
U.S. companies can gain greater profit margins in an international market unmined by American standards. Mr. Gnant, for example, pads his price tags by 40 percent, higher than what he could get in the U.S. "An international market is usually willing to pay 30 percent over the U.S. price," says Richard Miller, managing partner of Market Response International, a direct marketing consultancy in Chatham, Mass. "Market demand is usually that high."
Even though overseas sales may be promising, gaining revenues abroad is no easy...