We recently revealed Hyperwallet’s 2018 Marketplace Expansion Index, an analysis and ranking of 36 Countries around the world based on their indicators of expansion-readiness—things like payments and logistics infrastructure, ecommerce activity, and the available freelance workforce. We also explained how we grouped our chosen countries into three categories: Established, Emerging, and Evolving.

In this post, we want to talk about that first segment—our Established countries—and explain why these markets represent some of the best opportunities for your international expansion.

What’s an Established Country?

Ranked #1-12 in the Index, Established Countries demonstrate a high level of marketplace activity and offer the optimal conditions for platforms to grow and thrive abroad. While each country has its own unique advantages, they all consistently score higher than other countries in these key areas:

• Marketplace Dominance
  Large, global marketplaces (e.g., Uber, Amazon) have already proven the viability of Established countries, which exhibit a high demand for foreign (and primarily Western) products and services.
• Payment Infrastructure
  Established markets have the necessary payment infrastructure to ensure the fast, efficient flow of funds between marketplaces and their buyers and sellers. One a scale to 100, ten of these countries have a payment infrastructure rating of 75 or higher.
• Logistics Performance
  With strong logistics networks, Established countries help goods-based marketplaces maintain reliability and affordability through the delivery process.

Of course, Established markets come with difficulties as well. India, for example, has one of the worst ease of doing business rankings due to its challenging regulatory environment. South Korea is supportive of sharing economy models, but platforms deemed overly profit-driven will face strict taxation. Australia has a strong payment infrastructure, but the process of opening a local bank account in the country is surprisingly complex.

Nonetheless, our Established countries boast significant ecommerce market size and tremendous opportunity for growth. If you’re hoping to make a name for your marketplace on the global stage, these are the places to start.

Download Hyperwallet’s full, 133-page 2018 Marketplace Expansion Index and check out our interactive expansion map here.

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