Springfield, Missouri The Official Economic Development Site for the Springfield Metro Region

Finding Opportunities for Your Business

With 95% of the world’s consumers living outside the United States, businesses can no longer afford to think in purely domestic terms.

The globalization of commerce is a reality that creates both challenges and opportunities. What are the international trade opportunities for your company’s products or services? These resources can help you begin to identify those opportunities and formulate a strategy for export success.

The Basics

• Learn about export basics and find trade leads in your industry.
• The positive impact of international trade is huge for Missouri and our nation.  Meet some of the “Faces of Trade”.
• The U.S. Commercial Service of the Department of Commerce operates the U.S. Export Assistance Center of Missouri.
• The International Trade Administration provides recent trade news and helpful updates.
• The Department of Economic Development operates Missouri's International Trade & Investment office.

Finding Your Target Markets

• Identify your target markets.
• Find information about government regulations and enforcement in 178 countries through the World Bank.
• Find country insights and industry profiles.
• Basic economic and demographic information about all countries is available from sources such as the CIA World Factbook, BBC News and the Library of Congress.

Searching For Trade Leads

• Search a worldwide business-to-business database.
• The National Trade Database includes current trade leads, as well as country and market research.
• Whether you are buying or selling internationally, two popular business-to-business databases, Alibaba and World Trade Market can help you find potential suppliers or customers.