Which currency to use.

lcharm

I'm about to launch a new service based business on where people can order online.

I want to market internationally but the problem is I don't know what currency to use (£, $ or €?) as I have no idea as yet which will be my dominant market, I've been freelancing up until now and it's been an even mix of US/Canada Uk and the odd EU and Asian customer.

I was going to keep it as £ and have an XE widget on the order page but could that put off potential European/US/Asian customers?

Wywth

lcharm wrote: »

I'm about to launch a new service based business on where people can order online.

I want to market internationally but the problem is I don't know what currency to use (£, $ or €?) as I have no idea as yet which will be my dominant market, I've been freelancing up until now and it's been an even mix of US/Canada Uk and the odd EU and Asian customer.

I was going to keep it as £ and have an XE widget on the order page but could that put off potential European/US/Asian customers?

If you operate from the UK, I would suggest you use GBP.

I am not put off in the slightest when ordering from the US that the prices are in USD or from France that the prices are in Euros.

What would worry me, however, is launching a new business venture without any idea of who my customers may be

lcharm

Thanks,

I know exactly who my customer would be as I've been freelancing up until now on a couple of freelancer sites and I have a marketing plan of how to target them.

The problem is where my customers may come from as it's been an even mix and I'm marketing internationally, in fact I may even start in the US or Asia first as it's less competitive for me there.

paddyrg

For all kinds of tak and paperwork reasons, charge in GBP and let the credit card companies handle any foreign transactions. That way you are not exposed to exchange rate fluctuations or if one day you are big enough to be VATtable you don't end up with silly situations like a UK customer paying you in USD, but you having to pay the VAT on that to HMRC in GBP...

lcharm

paddyrg wrote: »

For all kinds of tak and paperwork reasons, charge in GBP and let the credit card companies handle any foreign transactions. That way you are not exposed to exchange rate fluctuations or if one day you are big enough to be VATtable you don't end up with silly situations like a UK customer paying you in USD, but you having to pay the VAT on that to HMRC in GBP...

Very very good point! I do run another business which is predominantly UK and it's a nightmare filtering out the few international orders I get when I do my VAT return so I'd imagine it'd be worse in another currency.

Thanks, it's settled I'm going GBP and then adding a currency converter widget like XE on the site so they can check live rates.

nathand_2

I'd recommend going with USD. It might be easier to do GBP but USD is more common internationally and I imagine will make customers from other countries feel easier about ordering from you.

Alternatively you could display $/€/£ depending on where the visitor is from (geotargeting) and calculate that against live rates.

shmeeko69

lcharm wrote: »

I'm about to launch a new service based business on where people can order online.

I want to market internationally but the problem is I don't know what currency to use (£, $ or €?) as I have no idea as yet which will be my dominant market, I've been freelancing up until now and it's been an even mix of US/Canada Uk and the odd EU and Asian customer.

I was going to keep it as £ and have an XE widget on the order page but could that put off potential European/US/Asian customers?

The payment processor I use is American based and I have to sell my digital products in US dollars. People usually don't bother too much about it whether it's in sterling, euros or dollars, however, if you show a current conversion rate then, this will allow people to see what they expect to pay in the default currency.

Bonza_Boy

If your prime market is the US I would go for $ as in the UK we are more international looking and will buy in $ but in the US they are a lot more insular, and would be more reluctant to buy in £'s.