Most business means buying and selling of products, expect for service oriented businesses. Import business too is the business of buying and bringing in goods to your territory from other territories. Every county does their bit of business in both import and export. It is a globalized world, even if a country is self sufficient in producing the goods it needs, there will always be room for imported goods in that country. With the nature of the business world, business of importing and re-exporting of goods also exists.
The demand for import however is usually created by the unavailability of certain goods in the territory. That will always be a good basis for importing goods. After you decide you want to go into importing business, you first have to find that niche market in your locality.
Identify the goods that you might be able to sell in your country. After you identify the product, do a feasibility research. Assumptions can kill you in business. To be completely sure of the sell ability of the product, you have to do a market research. The research can be done in several methods, and can be carried out not only to find out the feasibility of the product, but also to find the right selling process for the goods. You have to also identify the distributors who can sell the products to the wholesalers or the retailers.
At the same time, you can also explore the market outside you own territory or country. Internet makes it easy these days to do market research in other countries too. And because of the same reasons it is feasible to re-export the goods in other countries. However, in this case, you have to be extra careful to identify the right channels to do so. You also have to be careful in studying the rules and regulations regarding the export of these goods from the host countries. Also check out the tax regulations and other regulations in your own country. Many official sites of the governments and local authorities have official web sites with information regarding import export regulations and tax systems.
If you decide to sell the product yourself in the local market, by dealing with wholesaler and retailers yourself, you also have to do the necessary ground work for the marketing and promotion of the product. This is the age of online shopping. If you do decide to retail you product yourself, you can also set up your own e-commerce site. If you do want to sell online, you can also approach hundreds of general online shopping sites that are available these days.
Being the first in market always has its advantages. It gives you the privilege of setting up your own price, increasing the possibility for higher profit margin. Being first in terms of market of the product can also have its benefits. If you come up with attractive sales campaign which other vendors have not thought of, your business prospects will also grow. Overall, understanding the right product for right market, identifying the right vendors and distributors, and distribution channel, and marketing your product well are the keys to success in today’s import business.