Factors that impact United States retailers' expansion into the international marketplace

This research investigated the foreign expansion of US‐owned retailers into the Latin American markets of Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Brazil. The purpose of this study was to determine how important the following factors were in a retailer's decision to establish a presence in Latin America: political and economic stability of the country, retail market size and growth, real estate issues, government regulations in terms of types of entry modes, customer base or target market, competition, and technical feasibility. This study also determined if there was a significant difference in these factors for US‐owned retailers who were interested in international retailing and US‐owned retailers who were not interested in international expansion.

Data were gathered via a questionnaire administered to vice‐presidents of the international development division for US retail companies.

Factors determined important for a retailer's decision to expand into an international market were political and economic stability of the country and the size of the retail market. The least important factor was the technical feasibility. Retailers interested in expansion into Latin America and retailers not interested in expansion into Latin America did not score the factors significantly different.

This study identifies factors important for expansion into the international marketplace. Success in these ventures is necessary for the economic well‐being of the retail industry.