How to Start an Import Export Business
Helpful Tips for Importers - A Beginner's Guide to Importing

If you are new to importing and if you are wondering how and where to start, here are a few helpful tips. 

• Self Assessment - You must first start with a self assessment. Importing foreign goods can be very lucrative but it is not for the faint of heart. Take some time to seriously ponder the question - Is this really your cup of tea? International trade poses several challenges such as dealing with people from different cultural backgrounds, handling fairly complex logistics of executing trades from thousands of miles away or navigating around bureaucratic hurdles involving government agencies such as customs. Other challenges involve factors such as being able to effectively sell and market the products to maintain a profitable trade cycle. Are you cut out for this type of a challenge?

• Believe in Yourself - The old cliché that you can do anything you set your mind on really works in this instance. You must firmly believe in yourself, in your ability to do this. It is not rocket science, but it would take some conviction in your own self to be able to see this through. The whole process may appear overwhelming in the beginning, but things do get better with the passage of time and experience.

• Financial Review - Review your finances thoroughly. If your finances are too restricted, the idea of importing foreign goods may not be worth the hassle.

• Organize - International trade requires organized work practices. Skills required for elements such as keeping track of invoices, shipping receipts and customs documentation etc. are a must. 

• Get Excited - You must get excited about the products you are going to import. You can not sell a product you yourself do not believe in. The fun is in seeing where the new ideas and new products will take you. However, if in the beginning you don't want to venture too far out of your comfort zone, you can try to pursue familiar products that you know you would enjoy selling in the market. 

• Understand the Product - Once you get excited about some products, learn every thing you can about those products. A good understanding of the products you are going to import is important for success. Learning about the products after the fact can prove to be costly. 

• Develop Product Specifications - Clear unambiguous specifications that clearly define your requirements are crucial. Do not make any assumptions. International suppliers tend to follow written specifications as closely as possible. Any thing left out of the specifications may not be in the final product you receive. However, you must also try to keep the specifications as simple as possible. You can overdo the detail in specifications. More restrictive specifications invariably mean higher costs. Too much detail may also confuse or overwhelm the suppliers because of language issues. The trick, therefore, is to strike an appropriate balance.    

• Understand the Procedures - Importing goods into US requires compliance with several rules and regulations and dealing with several government agencies. At the very least, you should acquire a basic understanding of the procedures involved.  Familiarize yourself with the duty rates and tariffs involved. Websites for US government agencies such as  US Customs and Border Protection, US International Trade Commission, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, etc. provide useful information in this regard. A useful summary of USA Import Requirements is noted here. The good news is that you can find companies that can assist you through the different stages of the process.

• Plan Ahead - Importing foreign goods often requires long lead times. Effective project management is therefore extremely important. Allow adequate time for the procurement cycle to complete. Because airfreight is quite expensive by comparison, most internationally traded goods are shipped by sea. Shipping across the oceans can take multiple weeks or even months. In addition, you must allow for external factors such as the inevitable delays at customs. 

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Ordering the Imports

• Research - Do proper research to find the right suppliers for the products you are looking for. In addition to popular search engines such as Google and Yahoo, there are a number of trade portals that provide an abundance of leads on international trade and bring buyers and sellers together. 

• Understand the Supplier - Is your supplier an original manufacturer (OM), an export management company (EMC), an export trading company (ETC) or an import-export merchant (IEM)?  An OM is of course the manufacturing company selling its products in the global market place. An EMC handles export operations on behalf of a manufacturing company. EMCs usually specialize by product, foreign market or both. An ETC  identifies the foreign demand and matches that with domestic manufacturing resources. An IEM is sort of a free agent. An IEM has no specific client base and does not specialize in any one industry or line of product. Instead, the IEM purchases goods directly from a manufacturer and then packs, ships and resells the goods abroad.  

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Work with an Import Export Merchant (IEM)

The choice of supplier depends on your particular business requirements. However, for most general purpose, wholesale or small business importers, an import export merchant in that foreign market may be the best option for the following reasons. 

• Physical Presence - The right Import Export Merchant in a way represents your purchasing interest in that foreign market place. It is very simple - they are present THERE. The right Import Export Merchant can conduct a thorough search of their entire domestic market to find the best value products for your import dollar. Many companies in foreign countries do not have enough web presence to show up in the top 100 results of a Google or Yahoo search. Often these companies are not listed on the international trade portals either. Yet these companies may produce exactly what you are looking for. The right Import Export Merchant can locate even these obscure sources to find the best value in that foreign market.

• Prices - The right Import Export Merchant can deliver the best prices. While dealing directly with a foreign manufacturer can cut out the middleman, so to speak, but that does not necessarily guarantee the best price. Foreign manufacturers often have tiered pricing structures with higher prices for distant international customers than what they charge domestically.

• Quality - The right Import Export Merchant can provide effective quality control for the international customers. Even the best manufacturers can have occasional quality issues. The right Import Export Merchant  provides an external final quality inspection before the goods are loaded on to the boat, shipping only those products that meet customer specifications. It is much less expensive to discover quality issues there than after the shipment has traveled thousands of miles to you.

• On Time Shipments - The right Import Export Merchant can provide a very powerful mechanism for ensuring on time delivery. If a certain manufacturer shows signs of difficulty meeting the schedules, the right Import Export Merchant can quickly find alternative sources to fill the customer order on time. Even brief delays in shipments from the country of origin can prove costly due to downstream ripple effects that can quickly multiply. 

• Lead Time - The right Import Export Merchant can dramatically improve the lead times involved. The right Import Export Merchant can simultaneously use multiple manufacturing resources, in parallel, to cut down the lead time for shipment with no additional costs to you.

• One Stop Shopping - The right Import Export Merchant can be your source for a variety of imported products. Instead of finding a different supplier or manufacturer for each product, you could use one reliable Import Export Merchant to fulfill all of your import orders. 

• Economies of Scale - The right Import Export Merchant can use the economies of scale achieved by combining import orders from multiple international customers, leveraging the larger volume to secure better prices from their suppliers.

• Communications - The right Import Export Merchant is generally better prepared than foreign manufacturers to bridge the language gaps that often result in miscommunications. The right Import Export Merchant is generally quite proficient in English as an international working language.

• Long Term Relationship - The right Import Export Merchant values a long term relationship with the international importer. This can be mutually beneficial for the parties involved. Long term relationship is a significant incentive for them to protect your interests because this generates repeat business. A long term relationship also results in greater reliability and better communication due to improved mutual understanding.

• Supply Chain Management - The right Import Export Merchant can manage the entire supply chain to ensure an uninterrupted supply of products to the customers. Not only do the right Import Export Merchants monitor the supply from the primary manufacturer, they often follow up on the progress with the second and third tier suppliers as well. By the same token, International Import Export Merchants can even assist you in handling the logistics of receiving the products at your doorstep.

One Example

There are many import export merchants in the international arena. Find and establish a relationship with an Import Export Merchant that you are comfortable working with and that can fulfill your particular requirements. An example of one such Import Export Merchant is the  International Merchants Group IMGPak. 

An international Import Export Merchant such as IMGPak can assist the customer through the entire procurement cycle, from receiving the initial order through to the physical delivery of goods at the customer's address in the United States (or anywhere else in the world!) 

Through their global alliances, international import export merchants such as IMGPak can assist you with the logistics of clearing the US customs and transporting the goods to your final destination.  

(Note: The above information is from the Importer Exporter USA website). 

Useful Links

• International Merchants Group IMGPak

• IMGPak Product Categories

• Importer Exporter USA

• Importing Made Easy

• Beginner's Guide to Importing

• Helpful Tips for Importers

• Ordering the Imports

• Working with an Import Export Merchant

• Example of Import Export Merchant

• USA Import Requirements

• US Customs Requirements

• Great American Debate - To Import or Not to Import

• American Solution

• Wholesale and Retail

• Modern Day Business Model for Wholesalers and Retailers

• Wholesaler or Retailer - Be a Direct Importer

• Internet Makes Direct Importing Feasible

• Start Your Own Business

• The Simple Formula - Shop Global

• The 4-3-2-1.5 Rule

Contact IMGPak

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