This study explores the phenomenon of entrepreneurial internationalization in the coffee industry run by SMEs as a response to the growing global trend of digital marketplaces that encourage the emergence of digital entrepreneurial activities. This study analyzes how SMEs in the coffee industry adapt to global market dynamics through digital marketing strategies by extending their market reach, penetrating the international market, and interacting with consumers from various cultural backgrounds using online marketplace platforms. As early internationalizers, SMEs compete with large companies with already well-known products and reputations. This study also examines how sellers’ social skills in building product confidence and navigating e-WOM strengthen product image in an international context. This study was conducted by processing digital data from 4802 comments, descriptions, and ratings of 3471 coffee products sold in the digital marketplace using the Python algorithm. Data findings were classified using a combination of economic sociology perspectives, namely, social skills and building product confidence. This study presents novelty in the form of data visualization that illustrates the dynamics of market competition in the internationalization process using Social Network Analysis (SNA) and Text Network Analysis (TNA). This study then discloses how local coffee products can compete with well-known brands from large companies in the digital marketplace in the early internationalization process carried out by SMEs. This study also illustrates the power of sociology of market in revealing contemporary digital entrepreneurship in the digital age. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2025.