Chiara Paolinelli On Navigating U.S. Market Expansion: Insights From The Stay Export Mentoring Project

Chiara Paolinelli is a business developer and strategist with extensive experience in international trade and market expansion. From 2021 to 2023, she led the Stay Export – Mentoring Project with the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce West (IACCW), helping Italian companies navigate U.S. market entry, sustainability, and strategic growth. Chiara has worked across various industries, including wine, food, and machinery, and continues to play a key role in fostering cross-border business success, particularly through her involvement in initiatives like Vinitaly Expo and U.S. Buyers Trips.

We thank Chiara for sharing her valuable insights with our readers.

IMAGE: CHIARA PAOLINELLI

1. Can you share your experience with the stay export – mentoring project from ‘21 to ‘23?

The stay export mentoring program was an incredible experience as a business developer / strategist; the project was creative, innovative and kept up with the times; it was sustainable in its practices, it reduced carbon footprint, costs of operations for participating brands (mentees – ITA) and mentors (US) on both sides.

I loved working on the project; I had the privilege of working on this project for the IACCW which specifically via remote mentoring sessions, aims to assist Italian companies wanting to expand operations into the US market, while  preparing brands (still based in Italy) with ideas, strategies and more, on how to put their best foot forward into the US market while helping them think long-term about their company’s interests and benefiting also US buyers options; the brands assisted came from all across Italy and were operative in diverse fields, from wine, to food, to machinery to more.

The challenges faced by the brands were, and still are, for Italian brands: understanding how to expand their operations in the West Coast of US, and thinking in a long – well rounded manner about their market entry / or expansion approach/ plans.

Specifically the Chamber of Commerce, myself and the Mentors that took part in the project, tried to assist brands by sharing with them invaluable information with the brands – firmost – on US immigration rules to do business in the US, along with information on finding a local business partner (if wanted). Also, sharing with brands information about the ever-changing complexity and diversification of the West Coast of the US market as well as (ie. specifically the local consumer trends variations).

Navigating the technical and socio-cultural and economic nuances and differences in doing business in the West Coast of the US is very difficult and for the chamber of commerce I  try to assist diverse brands in navigating all these difficult scenarios; my expertise, ie. experience in the field, and continued learning processes, have proven to be invaluable; and most specifically I believe that – on the development side – by continuing to stay curious, educated, excited and up to date with the latest economic trends, one’s (or my expertise), continues to build so as to help brands directly brands with navigating difficult economic scenarios, that require more and more target strategic practices so as to increase pro-positive commercial expansion efforts / results.

2. Looking back over the three years you were involved in the stay export project, what were some of the most notable successes or milestones where your guidance made a significant impact?

The Stay Export project which I worked on for IACCW, was so very interesting, but it is difficult to tell the success rate with mentoring projects specifically because, seeing as they are B2B learning sessions, chances are that it will take time for brands to implement either new strategies or newly acquired knowledge and turn it into commercial success; the results / milestones for the brands, will most possibly be seen in two years, or more.

3.  I understand you’re involved with the vinitaly expo and the u.S. Buyers trips to italy. How do you go about selecting wine buyers from the west coast, and what benefits do these buyers typically gain from participating in such a prestigious event?

With Vinitaly, which I worked on for IACCW, the selection process to choose wine buyers from the West Coast is so interesting but quite tricky. Sometimes there is a lot of demand, and many trade members reach out to the Chamber, interested in taking part in these exclusive activities (seeing as the Chamber of Commerce has been doing this for a long time), and – rightly so – many buyers / importers / distributors would like to take part in exciting B2B meetings at Vinitaly and learn more about the latest and coolest new italian wine/label, but it is only a few qualified buyers and importers from the West Coast, that are actively looking for new Italian wines / labels, that get a chance to be selected to attend these exclusive B2B meetings and activities with the Chamber of Commerce.

4. The Vinitaly Expo has grown significantly in recent years, with increasing numbers of trade visitors and tastings. What factors do you believe have contributed to this growth, and how has the event evolved over time? What trends do you see shaping its future?

About Vinitaly’s growth there a multitude of factors in play; but possibly, the phenomenon may be due to the fact that this fair – and wine trade activities-  have been active and operative for many years, so there is a convergence of trends flooding into the Fair, specifically: there is  the boomer generation’s qualified wine importers that are eager every year to attend the activities (and have been going to the fair for years) to look for new wines / eco – bio – bio dynamic – label and varietals to sell locally (in their respective market), WITH the addition of a newer trade generation basis of wine importers / direct to consumer wine sellers that eager to find the next  “IT” Italian wine varietal  / or eco – bio – bio- dynamic – label and put it on the market to sell on a large scale – on global scale (online); in the past “Prosecco” became the “IT” thing, but let’s see what the future holds for the next “IT” label! Whatever it is – it will be exciting!

5. Based on your extensive experience, what advice would you give to Italian businesses looking to establish themselves in the competitive U.S. market, particularly on the West Coast? What strategies should they prioritize to overcome cross-border trade challenges?

Sadly there is no cookie cutter, how to guide to tackling market expansion plans; they are  complex, multi phase, multi layer, multi cultural, multi bureaucratic efforts; but, with some of the experience gathered – this far (but i’m continuously learning) – some  brands  – interested in establishing themselves in the West Coast of the US that seem to have a better chance of survival and growth seem to evaluate internally – first – company expansion capacity from Italy (thinking 3/5 yr. + term – specifically) before proceeding with deciding expansion plans – for a potential for a best result; in addition, something that can be noticed is that  – some brands – with better potential for growth – do internally (or hired third parties)-  to do as much consumer market research / use data analytics tools – as available – as they can (targeted to the market / area of interest – especially) prior to the expansion planning phases; in addition, it seems that investing in research  / data analytics is never a bad investment – I don’t think; then once the internal evaluation, and the consumer market research has been done, it may be the optimal time to have an expansion efforts business plan be revised by accounting /financial advisors to evaluate the plan (and risks);  after most brands proceed with reaching out to professionals – in the market of interest (ex. US West Coast) – specialized in immigration rules & regulations for human resources (knowledgeable of local business practices specifically) and then proceed from there with addn. US (if the US is the market of interest) compliance efforts, for ex. either for further product (if it’s a product and not a service for sale) local market compliance rules (ex. FDA compliance for food / medicine / cosmetics / alcohol exports into the US) or other; and after that the creative & innovative & calculated risk taking phases of commercial expansion efforts seems to start!

To summarize, there is no ABC to exporting in the US market, but there seem to be some crucial parts to commercial improve expansion efforts, ie: investing time in local – internal (in-house) company structural & financial evaluation, effective international market research plans, strategic review of insights / market analytics, addn. review of  financial / risk assessments for internationalization efforts, implementation of international market regulations compliance practices, and the creation of the most innovative / creative part of the process which is implementing the exporting efforts abroad!

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