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GROWTHCASE STUDY

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.

Year
2023 — 2024
Context
Built from operating experience at Berlin Brands Group and eComplete
Role
Strategy and playbook design
Stack
AmazonListing LocalizationLanded-Cost ModelingCompliance

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.

3 marketsEnd-to-endRepeatable

Want something like this built for you?

I take on a small number of builds like this each year — agentic systems and tooling for marketplace teams.

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