What Are the Cultural Factors Which Make Expansion Abroad in Retailing Difficult

Cultural factors can be an obstacle when it comes to expansion of any business venture. Most businesses tend to forget about doing market research on the culture of a certain country. Certain foreign countries have a very tight culture that companies must pay attention to when expanding globally. Retailing expansions can be difficult, because of differences in culture in the global market. When entering a new market, corporations tend to do considerable studies catered towards local tastes. There are many factors to consider when expanding into a new area or culture, because culture can have a great impact on merchandising, and promotion of products cultures may be difficult for employees to adjust to and their maybe clashes which can make the whole process less effective and also less efficient. If there are major differences in the existing culture and language difficulties it may establish greater cultural barriers.

Culture also affects the four P’s in marketing the new product abroad, there can be difficulties and adjustments if the new market is price sensitive, has a high context culture and the corporation came from a country with a low context culture or vise-versa which can affect the promotion of the product. In another case study presented it was highlighted, that some cultures associate the price of a product with the quality of the product. Therefore, it is important for any company to obtain the necessarly cultural research before going globally with their products. Due to the various reasons mentioned above.

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