Internationalization is a key strategy to boost the growth and competitiveness of businesses in Italy, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Taking your business beyond domestic borders means accessing new markets, spreading out risk, and enhancing brand visibility. Let’s look at what internationalization entails, the benefits it offers, why it’s important for SMEs in Italy, and more.

What’s in this article?

• What does internationalization mean?
  
• The benefits of internationalization
  
• Why internationalization is important for SMEs in Italy
  
• Initiatives to support the internationalization of your business
  
• What are the stages of the internationalization process?
  
• How to internationalize your online sales
  
• Strategies for internationalizing online sales
  
• Regulatory and tax obligations for selling online abroad
  

What does internationalization mean?

Internationalization is the process by which a business expands beyond national borders, accessing foreign markets to sell its products or services. It requires the establishment of relationships with new corporate partners, customers, and institutions in the relevant countries. Internationalization allows businesses to take advantage of growth opportunities, boost profits, spread out risks, and increase competitiveness.

Corporate internationalization impacts every aspect of a business. It entails exporting products, securing new distributors overseas, and forming partnerships with foreign business collaborators.

The benefits of internationalization

The main motivations driving businesses toward internationalization are:

• Access to new markets: For example, in the case that the domestic market is saturated, businesses might want to explore new opportunities abroad.
  
• Increased revenue: By expanding abroad, businesses can access a wider customer base, thereby increasing revenue.
  
• Reduced costs: By expanding into new markets, businesses can benefit from cheaper labor, lower-priced raw materials, and local government incentives.
  
• Increased competitiveness: Internationalization lets businesses take advantage of specific technologies found in other countries, which can enable them to improve the quality of their offerings.
  
• Risk diversification: By selling in new markets, businesses are less dependent on the domestic market and possible local economic crises.
  
• Economies of scale: By serving more markets, production is increased, reducing unit costs.
  
• Customer retention: Businesses can follow their customers who have expanded abroad.
  

Why internationalization is important for SMEs in Italy

According to 2023 Istat data, almost all businesses (99.6%) in Italy are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These SMEs include micro enterprises (1-9 employees) at 78.9% of the total amount, small enterprises (10-49 employees) at 18.5%, and medium-sized enterprises (50-249 employees) at just 2.2%. Large enterprises account for only 0.4% of Italy’s businesses. Thus, SMEs are the backbone of the Italian economy and contribute significantly to employment and value creation.

The domestic market no longer provides enough room for growth, especially in mature industries or those facing stagnant demand—internationalization has become a necessity rather than a mere option. Internationalization allows SMEs to broaden their reach, to access new market segments, and to spread out risk, reducing their dependence on local economic conditions. SMEs can capitalize on the superior reputation of the “Made in Italy” label—particularly in the fashion, food, design, mechanics, and craftsmanship industries—positioning themselves in foreign markets with high-quality products and a compelling brand identity. Internationalization also enhances innovation, as engaging with diverse business and cultural environments promotes the adoption of new technologies, improved organizational models, and more sophisticated marketing strategies.

Initiatives to support the internationalization of your business

In 2025, various initiatives support the internationalization of SMEs in Italy, including subsidies from SIMSET, tenders from the Italian Trade Agency (ICE), and regional-level tenders listed on the websites of Italy’s Regions and Chambers of Commerce. These schemes support activities such as opening branches abroad, developing online stores, participating in international trade fairs, conducting studies, and receiving specialized consulting.

What are the stages of the internationalization process?

The stages of corporate internationalization vary depending on the specifics of the business and its goals, but they typically involve the following:

• Internal assessment
  This involves determining how internationalization-ready a business is in terms of linguistic, commercial and technical skills, production capacity, etc.
  
• Target market study
  The business must conduct a market research-informed study to identify the most attractive foreign markets, analyze international demand, gather competitive intelligence, and evaluate potential entry barriers (e.g., customs, tariffs, regulations, etc.).
  
• Choice of a market entry strategy
  The business must choose the most suitable method to penetrate the selected markets—options might include direct or indirect exports, licensing or franchising, establishing joint ventures with local partners, acquiring foreign companies, or setting up manufacturing or sales operations abroad. The choice will depend on factors such as the level of control the business wishes to maintain, available resources, acceptable risk, and the specifics of the target market.
  
• Implementation and adaptation
  This is the operational phase—taking the actions required to enter the foreign market. It might involve the business adapting its product or service to local requirements (e.g., in terms of packaging, technical specs, or certifications), translating and localizing its marketing materials and website, setting up a distribution network, adjusting prices, hiring local staff, and addressing legal and tax requirements.
  
• Monitoring, consolidation, and growth
  It’s important for the business to monitor its performance once it has become established in the new market, assessing the results against the defined objectives, analyzing metrics to identify issues, making adjustments, and enhancing its presence to support future growth.
  

How to internationalize your online sales

Internationalizing your online sales involves making your business accessible, competitive, and attractive to customers in foreign markets. Beyond making your products available for shipping abroad, it requires tailoring the entire shopping experience to each specific foreign market you plan to do business in. The process to internationalize online sales requires the following:

• Analysis of international markets
  You’ll need to identify the most promising target markets based on factors such as demand, competition, ease of entry, and potential profitability.
  
• Website and content localization
  Translate your website into the target market languages, making sure to localize the copy, images, currency, prices, and units of measurement, and to fine-tune the content to the local culture.
  
• International SEO strategy
  Create a geo-localized version of your site (for example, using a .it domain or subdomains) and ensure it’s optimized for search engines in the local languages.
  
• Multilingual support
  Make sure that support staff who speak the customers’ languages can be reached by phone, email, or chat.
  
• Local payment methods
  Customers are more likely to make purchases if they can use their preferred payment methods, so you’ll want to research which ones are most popular in your target market and integrate them into your online sales platform.
  
• Logistics and international shipping
  Research shipping methods and regulations that apply to sending products abroad, within the EU or beyond.
  
• Regulatory and tax compliance
  Learn about the legal and tax regulations that apply in the countries where you plan to export products or services.
  
• Adaptation of marketing strategies to foreign markets
  Marketing strategies that work in one country might not be as effective in others—be sure to diversify and adapt to local markets.
  
• International performance monitoring and analysis
  Generate reports and analyses on the performance of your sales abroad, and make adjustments as needed to promote growth.
  
• Supporting global payments
  If you’re planning to internationalize your ecommerce business, selecting a payment service provider is key. Choosing the right provider allows you to manage international payments quickly and smoothly while supporting the most suitable payment methods for your business. A solution such as Stripe Payments, with its Optimized Checkout Suite, provides flexible cross-border payment options in 195 countries and over 135 currencies, meaning your customers around the world can use their preferred payment methods.
  

Strategies for internationalizing online sales

In order to figure out the internationalization strategy that might work best for your business, we’ll need to focus on the primary models for internationalizing online sales: selling through your own ecommerce site, or selling through international marketplaces, international dropshipping, or social media.

Selling online through your own ecommerce site

With this strategy, you sell your products or services directly to customers using an ecommerce site developed in-house or through a third party. This approach allows you to retain full control over your brand, the customer experience, and your profit margins, but it requires up-front investments. Costs include building the website and implementing international search engine optimization (SEO), among other things.

Selling online through international marketplaces

Using established digital platforms to sell your products or services allows you to take advantage of a wide, built-in customer base, strong visibility, and integrated logistics. The downsides include the costs related to subscriptions and sales commissions, and limited control over the customer relationship.

Selling online through international dropshipping

With this approach, you sell products online without handling the inventory—the supplier ships the items directly to the end customer. Benefits include a low initial investment and reduced risks in terms of inventory and logistics, but you need to select your suppliers carefully, as product quality and delivery times are important. Profit margins are also typically lower.

Selling online through social media

Selling directly to international customers through your social media channels requires the regular creation and publication of targeted, localized, high-quality content, as well as the management of your own logistics and customer support operations. The main benefits of this approach are that you don’t need to build a website from scratch, and that it enables you to reach niche demographics directly.

Regulatory and tax obligations for selling online abroad

The internationalization of online sales requires a thorough understanding of all applicable regulatory and tax requirements. Here are the key obligations:

Value-added tax (VAT) territoriality

To ensure proper invoicing and avoid penalties, online store owners need to know where and how to apply value-added tax (VAT). The rules vary based on factors such as the type of ecommerce business (i.e., direct or indirect), the customer type (i.e., business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-customer (B2C)), and the customers’ location (i.e., in Italy, in the EU, or outside the EU). For example, within the EU, VAT is generally applied in the customer’s country. However, the business can apply VAT in Italy if it is based in a single EU member country, if it has opted into the One Stop Shop (OSS) scheme, and if its distance sales to other EU countries total under €10,000 per year.

Invoicing requirements

For B2C sales, you’re not required to issue an invoice unless the customer specifically requests one. For B2B sales, an invoice is generally required, and it must include all the information prescribed under the relevant tax regulations, which can vary from one country to another. EU invoices must include specific details, and the reverse-charge mechanism might apply.

Return policies and right of withdrawal

Online stores require a clear return policy that complies with the regulations that apply in every country in which they operate. For example, EU customers have a right of withdrawal from purchases within 14 days of receiving a product, without needing to provide a reason. In the United States, the regulations governing returns vary from state to state—in the absence of a standardized legal framework, many businesses voluntarily implement return policies to support customer satisfaction. Make sure you always research local laws covering the right of withdrawal.

Compliance with local data protection regulations

Selling online necessarily involves handling personal customer data such as names, shipping and billing addresses, email addresses, and more—you must comply with the data protection regulations that apply in each country where your products or services are available. For instance, the EU enforces the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), while in the US, data protection is governed by state-specific laws, including the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), among others.

General terms and conditions of sale

If you run an ecommerce business, you must draft and clearly display the general terms and conditions of sale on your site—they represent the contract between your business and your customers. The terms and conditions should cover pricing, payment options, shipping times and costs, return policies, warranties, and the jurisdiction for resolving any disputes.