There are three basic points of similarities between domestic marketing and international marketing:

1.    Both in domestic marketing and in international marketing, success depends upon satisfying the basic requirements of the consumers. This necessarily involves finding out what the buyers want and meeting their needs accordingly.

2.    It is necessary to build goodwill both in the domestic market as well as in the international market.

3.    Research and development of product improvement and adaptation is necessary both for international marketing and domestic marketing.

However, there are some salient features of difference between international marketing and domestic marketing.

Each country is a sovereign political entity and goods and services have to move across national boundaries. As a result, they may have to face a number of restrictions. They may fall in any one of the following categories:

i.    Tariffs or Custom Duties. These only make the goods expensive and are not intended to ban foreign goods entirely.

ii.    Quantitative restrictions. These are mainly intended to restrict trade in the specific commodities subject to restrictions, the major objective being protection of domestic industries.

iii.    Exchange Controls. In some cases through the entry of goods is not banned, importers may not be allowed the necessary foreign exchange for payment of the goods due to the existence of exchange controls.

iv.    Local Taxes. One of the objectives is to make the foreign goods comparatively costlier than domestic goods.

Each country has its own legal systems and very often the legal systems operated by different countries differ from each other.

The existence of different legal systems makes the task of businessmen more difficulty as they are not sure as to which particular system will apply to their transactions. However attempts are being made to bring about uniformity in some specific areas.

Each county has its own monetary system and the exchange value of each country’s currency is different from that of the other.

Factors of production are less mobile as between nations than in the country itself.

Each country is a separate market having its own demand pattern, channels of distribution methods of promotion, etc. These differences are accentuated due to the existence of government controls and regulations.

Each country has its own procedures and documentary requirements and traders have to comply with these regulations if they want to export to or import goods from foreign countries.

There is greater degree of risk involved in international marketing than in domestic marketing due to:

i.    Larger volume of transactional and the higher value of these transaction.

ii.    Longer time period involved in these transactions due to longer time in transit and the longer credit period involved.

iii.    Comparatively less knowledge about the parties’ reputation and credibility.

In addition, as stated earlier, there are the exchange fluctuation risks. 

Exporting means operating in cross-cultural environment. This makes the task of marketing more complex because the marketer must appreciate how different is the foreign culture from his own and how the difference has to be reflected in shaping his behavior pattern as well as his export marketing strategy.

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