International business trade like import business can take you throughout the world and into various types of product segments. It is an adventurous business and it’s the in thing in the business world. However, it is not a new business trend. If you read the world history, people have been importing goods from ancient times. It might have started after the invention barter system to fulfill the requirement of the people who wanted to have the goods they did not have.
Coming to this day and age, import is a big business worldwide. In US alone, annual turnover in import is $1.2 trillion in goods. They import everything from wine to canned food, from jewellery to clothes. Import is a huge business worldwide including the places like America. There are many reasons for the phenomenon. Some of them are:-
Price – Products are not equally priced all over the world. Because of the various factors in the process of production, marketing and distribution, some products might be cheaper in part of the world and expensive in other. Therefore bringing in products from other countries might be cheaper sometimes that buying the same product from home country. Toy, for example, are manufactured in the US. Chinese toys, however are cheaper and therefore are imported in large volumes.
Image, status – Some products have a distinct high status among the consumers because of the production location of the products. Scandinavian furniture, for example, cannot be made anywhere else. Beer, from Germany, has an image. Cotton from Egypt is another product with a status. Perfumes and France are synonym. These products are imported from the host countries because of the image they have in the international arena.
Availability – This is the most important reason behind import business. Because some products simply cannot be made in your country, you have to import them from the country that produces them. Pashmina products, for example, are imported by many European countries and the US from Nepal. Nepal, on the other hand imports computers and gadgets from US.
Logical reasons – Even if US can produce handmade paper products, for example, it does not make sense for her to do so because it just does not make sense. If they are produced in US, it will be very expensive. Therefore it makes business sense for the US to import those from countries like Nepal and Bangladesh.
Every businessman cannot be an importer. It largely depends on the types of business skills of the person. For example, it might not be for people who are not expert sales person. If you cannot picture yourself making several sales pitches a day, then may be import business is not for you. And, as mentioned earlier, it is an adventurous business, may be not so much for someone who feels comfortable in official regular routine job. If selling large qualities quickly excites you, import is for you. If you are like a great explorer who enjoys exploring the unknown territory of potential markets, then import business in definitely for you.
Import Business
Internet has revolutionized the world. It has changed the way people do anything. In business too, it has brought in a new dimension. It has to large extent changed the way people do business, and has opened up lot many avenues for business people. The global business has been able to expand because of the Internet. It has helped people cross the trade barriers, provided them with easy access to information, made it possible for them to contact other business entities all over the world, and hence created unlimited possibilities in global business.
People all over the world are taking advantage, using the Internet for business – to market their wares, exploring new areas of global business – and reducing the cost of doing global business at the same time. Everyone anywhere take advantage of the Internet – whether to start a new business or to expand one, because it is perhaps more global than the global business itself.
For import business too, the Internet has come as a boon to all. When there was no internet, finding products to import was not an easy task. You had to physically visit the areas to explore. Easiest option was to visit international trade and business exhibitions. Today, your fingers do the traveling for you, in seconds and minutes, all over the glob to find anything you want. One way is to know what you want to import in your country, and then do a search on that. That will give a lot of information about the product and information on the exporters of the product all over the world. You can go to the sites of these exporters and find the best deal, and order online.
Alternatively you can also first decide on the country you want to import from and then check all the goods you can import. Choose the one that you think has the potential for market in your country and do a research to verify it. After that, you come online and search for the right exporter in that country to buy that product from. Specific countries specialize in special products. Therefore this might be the right way for you to start your import business. Check out the online sites of the B2B companies in those countries dealing with the product you want to import. While choosing the product you want to import and choosing a company to deal with you have to consider these points – you have to have ample knowledge about the product and its feasibility in your market, you have to be sure of the product you want to buy from that particular vendor, you have to know the quantity you want to import and to see if the product quality and quantity can remain consistent throughout your import period. You also have to keep in mind your profit margin while settling for price to buy the products.
While searching for exporters of the product in the particular country, you can go through B2B companies in the country, or you can also go through the business communities of that country like chamber of commerce. Check out the sites related to those entities.
After you decide on the company you want to deal with, also make sure of the tax and other regulations related to import of those goods in your country. Most countries and local administration have official sites with all the information regarding import regulations and tax information on various importable products.