Importing for Stock

As an import merchant you need to be careful about importing goods to stock for subsequent sale. A large portion of what you import should already have been sold. An individual visiting in South America became enchanted with some hand-carved wooden doors. He just knew they would be easy to sell, and he imported $5000 worth. The last was heard his garage was filled with hand-carved wooden doors, and his car had little chance of getting in from the cold.

Marketing Imports through Mail Order

One mail order option is to buy a mailing list from a company such as Dunhill, prepare your mailing, send it out (two mailings to the same people), and hope for results. However, even the best lists are quickly out of date* and both individuals and businesses are now deluged with offers in their mailboxes. Why would someone order from your tiny catalog when the same mail delivery brings expensive full-colour catalogs from well-known companies? Your chance of covering your costs with just one or a few items is small unless you can find exactly the right list of names and addresses for your particular product.

A second mail order option is for you to advertise in newspapers or magazines (at least three issues of the same publication). You can ask respondents to order immediately, or to contact you for more information.

A third mail order option is to import your product and sell an established mail order company on the idea of including it in their catalog. Save all the catalogs that come to you and try to identify firms selling products similar to yours. Contact the companies you are interested in, by mail or phone, describe your product, and ask if they would consider putting it in their catalog. If the buyer you are speaking with is interested, he or she will probably ask for a sample and prices.

Professional mail order firms place a high value on* every square inch of every catalog page and are very selective about the products they include. They won't want to take a chance on putting an item in a catalog, getting orders for it, and then finding out that you do not have the product.

Marketing Imports through Department Stores

Suppose you think your product will sell well in the major department stores. First you need to consider which stores sell to the kinds of customers who would want what you have to offer.

Department store buyers are specialized, professional, and usually hard to contact. You can usually at least get a buyer's secretary by calling a store's main office and asking for the buyer for your type of product. You can also find buyers' names and telephone numbers in books.

Some stores have "open buying days," when vendors can just wait in line, without an appointment, to show their products. This gives you an easy way to get your foot in the door*, but you should call before you go because buyers are not always in on their open buying days. When you get in to see a buyer, either on his or her open buying day or by appointment, you should be ready to answer all questions. If a buyer asks you what kind of loom the cloth in a blouse was made on*, you must know the answer or come across as unprofessional*. The buyer can probably tell just by the look and feel. Also remember that buyers for big stores have worked hard to get to where they are and don't want to risk their reputations by buying from an untried vendor. What if you don't deliver on time or the quality is wrong? To get a department store buyer to cooperate, you must have a very attractive product, a competitive price, and an excellent sales presentation.

Marketing Imports through Small Stores

You may feel that your product will sell well in boutiques, hardware stores, pharmacies, or other specialty retail outlets*. Identify a number of likely stores, call to make appointments with the buyers, and try to get them to place small orders. If you can get orders for perhaps 100 of your products, you may feel safe in bringing in a shipment of two or three hundred.

Often you can just walk into small stores and ask to see the buyers. If a buyer is not present, find out his or her name, hours, whether you need an appointment, and if so how to make one. There are even some stores where you can walk in and, if the buyer likes your product and its price, get a small order on the spot*. If you have the merchandise with you the buyer may pay you then, in cash or by check.

In chain operations, the buying is usually done centrally, and you will need to find out where the buyers are located and which one handles your kind of merchandise, and call for an appointment. Most buyers are busy and won't want to see you unless they are quite interested. They usually will ask you to send your catalog and prices. Here you will have a problem. It will cost you at least $500 to have a catalog page made in colour. Instead you might choose to have a professional photographer take a good colour picture for you. One shot and 25 copies should cost just over a hundred dollars. Have the photograph printed on a full-size sheet of paper, type in the item number and name, and the dimensions and weight if relevant, and you have a catalog page. You can type the price on the same page or put it in your cover letter, or if you have several models, you can prepare a separate list of prices. Your price list could mention your minimum order quantity, any discounts for large orders or prompt payment, and whether delivery charges are included.

If you succeed in placing your product in a few stores, and it moves off the shelves, you will be ready to start selling in earnest. Since you won't physically be able to call on stores over a wide area, you'll need to work either through wholesalers or with manufacturers' representatives. You can find wholesalers in the telephone yellow pages*, in some trade directories, or simply by asking retailers of products similar to yours which wholesalers they buy from. Approach them by phone with your product idea. Sales to wholesalers are usually large, but they negotiate hard on price and credit terms and they, not you, will own the retail customers.

Your other option is to sell directly to retail stores through manufacturers' representatives. Many reps are listed in the yellow pages, but not by product. Many libraries have directories of manufacturers' representatives, but none is complete. Sometimes you can find them in trade directories or by speaking with retailers, and an easy (though slow) way is to advertise for them. Trade magazines have classified pages in which you can advertise inexpensively for representatives. Of course these independent businesspersons need something with which to sell, and you will have to provide them with catalogs and/or product samples. When one of your reps gets an order you will ship to his customer, collect, and send him a commission.

Marketing Imports through Flea Markets

Flea markets are growing like crabgrass* (or sunflowers, depending on your point of view). People seem to love the experience of walking from vendor to vendor, bargaining for their purchases, and not being charged sales tax. Flea marketing is now an established industry with its own publications, associations, and wholesalers. To find these wholesalers, try asking flea market dealers who they buy from. Often they'll tell you if they believe you are an importer and not a potential competitor.

You can find wholesalers advertising to flea market dealers, and you can place your own advertisements if you want to. This is a very price conscious marketing channel.* You may have to settle for a lower price than if you sell through the regular wholesaler-retailer channel.

Marketing Exports

Except for whether or not you handle procedures such as transportation, insurance, documentation, and payment, the job of marketing exports is not much different whether you are acting as an agent or as a merchant. In either case, you have to select and test products, select market countries, find agents and/or importers in each country, and support your agents or promote to the importers. Promotion includes advertising, sales promotion, public relations and publicity, and personal selling.

We've discussed ways of selecting and testing products and selecting market countries. International marketing textbooks go into other ways of selecting countries, such as using market indicators for each product. If you want to export nurses' caps, look for countries with large and growing numbers of nurses and few or no local cap producers. Of course, this technique isn't foolproof.* You may, for example, find a country with many nurses, no local suppliers, and only one small problem – the president's brother is importing your product from his cousin in Europe. The problem could be even simpler: Nurses there may not be required to wear caps. These are the realities of international marketing.

There are many good sources of information for market indicators. One of the easiest to use is the World Development Report, published each year by the World Bank in Washington, D.C.

Exporting to End-Users. Once you have chosen countries to which your products can legally be imported and in which they seem likely to be competitive in both price and quality, you must decide whether to sell to end users or to intermediaries and whether or not to use foreign selling agents.

Industrial goods are often exported directly to end users. If your product is expensive and likely to be exported directly to end users, you can identify these potential customers from foreign industrial directories. You can then contact them by mail and follow up with personal visits. It will usually take several trips to a market to sell directly to end users.

Using Foreign Distributors and Agents. If you plan to sell to foreign import merchants, wholesalers, retailers, or industrial distributors, you must go through the process of identifying and contacting these organizations. To find retailers try the book mentioned earlier, Stores of the World, Foreign wholesalers and industrial distributors are harder to identify. You may find directories that will help.

A more direct way is to travel to a country and make inquiries of chambers of commerce and of people in the trade.

In many cases, especially if your budget is limited, you'll find it hard to make direct contact with foreign organizations that will agree to import your products. Your solution may be to contract with agents. The job of a foreign selling agent is to locate companies that can import your product, persuade them to do so, get orders, and send them to you.

The agent can also tell you of needed product modifications, new market opportunities, or increased competition, can give you credit information on new customers (but you must make the credit decisions), and can give you data such as the prices at which your products are being sold and kinds of end users who are buying them. They work for commissions, payable by their principals, which vary greatly but are usually in the range of 5-10 percent of sales.

You can also find representatives by participating in foreign trade exhibits, by media advertising*, or through direct mail.

There are a large number of trade exhibits overseas, and the U.S. Department of Commerce as well as some state and local governments help American exporters participate. Often you don't need to send personnel, only your products, and in a few cases you can simply exhibit your catalogs or other sales literature. Look for specialized, not general, fairs that are open only to the trade. The main disadvantage to exhibiting is its cost in both time and money. Most fairs will cost you at least $1000 for the space and another $1000 for related expenses, not counting shipping your products, product literature, air fare, hotel, exhibit personnel and miscellaneous expenses.

If you choose to advertise for agents or distributors you can use a variety of international, regional, or local publications.

Unfortunately you may not automatically be able to attract the foreign representatives you would like to have. You must offer them some incentive*. Like any other businesspeople, they will be motivated by research results that show substantial sales and profit potential from your products.

Your own main criterion for choosing foreign agents or distributors is how well equipped they are to do the job you need done. If you are exporting electronic products that will need servicing, your distributor must have service facilities and trained personnel. If your product is a line of expensive clothing that will be sold to high-quality department stores, your agent needs good contacts among the buyers of this kind of store.

Choosing the right agent or distributor in the beginning is critical. If you select one who has a poor reputation in his or her own country, your reputation will suffer, and if the representative does not sell your product effectively, you will be wasting time and money. Also, if you pick the wrong agent or distributor, local laws may make it nearly impossible for you to get rid of him*. I once heard of an American exporter who travelled to Saudi Arabia and fired his local agent and was detained at the airport on his way home by the accusation that he had violated Saudi law*.

Once there is a mutual decision that an agent or distributor will handle your products on a continuing basis, you will want to have a written agreement with him.

You will need to determine or negotiate your agent's commission or distributor's mark-up and other aspects of your business relationship.

Building Your Sales on the Import Side

Unless you are making very large commodity deals (a business that is extremely hard for a newcomer to get into), your objective should not be to make isolated sales. You will want to develop ongoing business relationships. Your first import sales will probably be small trial orders. This is because buyers aren't likely to give you large orders until they are sure you can deliver as promised. These small orders are to your advantage, even though you may lose money on them. They give you the chance to test your import procedures and make sure they work satisfactorily before investing a large amount of money. You don't want to have a million dollars worth of meat from Spain setting on the docks in Norfolk, Virginia, only to find out it's illegal to import meat from Spain (which is the case). Better try your system with a smaller quantity.

Once you have trial orders and the goods are in stores, you need to follow up. Don't let the members of your distribution channel be walls that separate you from the end user. You should know where your merchandise is, how it is being displayed, how much it is selling for, how it is being promoted, if at all, and who is buying it. You may even want to spend some time in a store that sells your products and observe the people who walk by. See whether they notice your product, whether they pick it up, and whether they buy it. You can ask questions to see what the store's customers think of the product, its package, and its price.

Your objective is to find ways to increase sales of the product and increase profits.

Many importers of industrial products voluntarily spend time with their customers to make sure that there is no problem, that everyone is satisfied, and that there are no obstacles to repeat orders. You may decide to help with advertising or hire a public relations firm to generate publicity, which can often sell a product more effectively and less expensively than advertising.

Building Your Sales on the Export Side

On the export side, it is important to make sure your foreign representatives understand your product thoroughly. Send information, write them, call them, and if possible visit them. At least one company gives three types of training to its foreign distributors – product training, sales training, and business management training.

You should do as much as possible to motivate your foreign representatives. If you're an agent, try to get your principal to involve them in price discount offers, sales contests, etc.

If you're an export merchant rather than an agent, motivate your foreign representatives with frequent correspondence, an occasional gift, a visit now and then, and above all, information and ideas that will help them sell.

One last point is that your foreign representatives will stop selling for you very quickly if they get the idea you are incompetent or are not being fair with them. Try hard to answer all correspondence quickly and make every shipment right, and on time. If you turn down an agent's order* because of the customer's poor credit, explain your decision in detail and offer alternatives, such as part payment in advance. If you receive an order from a country in which you have an exclusive agent, make sure he receives his commission. He will probably find out about the order, and he may even have arranged it just to test your honesty.

in a strictly material sense – в строго материальном смысле

unregistered trade – нелегальная торговля

the cachet of being imported – ярлык, свидетельствующий о том, что продукция импортного происхождения

a detailed account – подробный перечень

you will be on to a good start – это послужит хорошим началом для вашего бизнеса

to gain prestige – завоевать престиж

permanent relationship – постоянное сотрудничество

this assumes – это предполагает

They are predisposed to ignore criticism and suggestions – Они склонны игнорировать критику и предложения

if you drop the ball on any of them – если вы упустите из вида одну из них (функций)

natural bath salts – натуральные ароматические соли для ванн

to survive a loss and stay in business – перетерпеть убытки и остаться в деле

the applicable laws – действующие в данном случае законы

how likely you are to be sued for illness or injury resulting from the use of your product – как велика возможность быть привлеченным к суду за заболевания или травмы, вызванные вашей продукцией

a danger of being sued for pollution of the environment – угроза привлечения к суду за загрязнение окружающей среды

straightforward matter – простое дело

buying wisely takes time – разумные покупки (закупки) требуют немало времени

photocopier – фотокопировальная машина

answering machine – автоответчик

requiring nerve – требующий мужества

business acumen – деловая хватка

you should commit yourself to it for the long term – вам следует посвятить себя этому на долгое время

civil unrest – волнения, протесты среди гражданского населения

a longshoremen's strike – забастовка докеров

the Korean won is devalued against the dollar – корейская вона девальвирована по отношению к доллару

would ... increase your range of business contacts – расширят круг ваших деловых контактов

worldwide coverage – освещение событий во всем мире

It may appear rude for people to belch loudly after eating – Может казаться непристойным громкая отрыжка после еды

sit with the sole of your shoe facing a Korean – сидеть, выставив подошву ботинка в сторону корейца

a degree of personal rapport – определенная степень достижения гармонии в личных взаимоотношениях

your meeting of minds will be expressed on paper – ваш обмен мыслями будет зафиксирован письменно

this careless violation of a term or condition of a letter of credit – это непреднамеренное нарушение условий аккредитива

outgoing and aggressive – легко теряющий над собой контроль и агрессивный

can fill in where you are weak – может "сыграть" свою роль как раз там, где вы не сильны

have stationary printed – заказать печатные бланки (с адресом и названием компании для писем, визитных карточек, конвертов и т.д.)

that seem to be good bets – на которые можно рискнуть сделать ставку

pay calls on them – посетите их лично

before you go to the trouble of contacting suppliers and developing quotations – до того, как вы потратите усилия на то, чтобы связаться с поставщиками и установить цену

no matter how small your operation – как бы ни был мал ваш бизнес

depends on considerations such as – зависит от учета таких соображений, как

There are a number of tax advantages to incorporating – Регистрация предприятия в качестве корпорации дает целый ряд налоговых преимуществ

accounting requirements – требования, предъявляемые к бухгалтерскому учету

a product that is taken internally or applied to the skin or that could cause harm in any way – продукт, который принимается вовнутрь или наносится на кожу, или продукт, который может причинить какой-либо ущерб здоровью

a vulgar or uncomplimentary meaning – вульгарный или нелестный смысл

"no va" in Spanish means "doesn't go". The Nova didn't. – "no va" по-испански значит "не пойдет". И Нова не пошла.

residential areas – жилые массивы (районов, городов)

filing cabinets – шкафы для хранения деловой корреспонденции и документации

postage meter – прибор, определяющий стоимость почтовых расходов по весу

fly-by-night operations – деловые компании с сомнительной репутацией (от fly-by-night – лицо, уклоняющееся от финансовой ответственности, ненадежный партнер)

a written record – письменная запись

letterhead – «шапка» бланка

commercial stationery stores – магазины канцелярских товаров

the Canadian Customs Invoice – счет-фактура канадской таможни

the Nigeria Certificate of Origin – нигерийский сертификат о происхождении товара

The Dome system – простая система записи бухгалтерских счетов для малого бизнеса

the accrual method of recording income and expenses – принцип наращивания, используемый в бухучете (при котором доходы и расходы признаются в момент их возникновения, хотя наличными они еще не получены и не выплачены)

With that information in hand – Имея в своем распоряжении указанную информацию

send the letter by registered air mail – послать заказное письмо авиапочтой

to meet consumer preferences – чтобы удовлетворять требованиям покупателей

the viability of your product idea – жизнеспособность вашего решения о (выборе) продукции

to target your messages better – чтобы ваши призывы скорее достигли цели

top-notch – первоклассный

stickers with your exporter's name – наклейки с именем вашего экспортера

is a good bet – на него вполне можно делать ставку

prohibit the sale ... unless spare parts and service facilities are available locally – запрещают продажу ... в местах, где нельзя купить запасные детали и отсутствует сервис

lack of adaptation – неприспособленность

to solicit the opinions of several people in the USA who are natives to the potential market countries – выяснить мнение тех людей в США, которые являются уроженцами стран потенциального рынка

snowplows – снегоочистительные машины

Are you interested in having me quote on your products? – Вы хотели бы знать цены на интересующую Вас продукцию?

to the detriment of the firm's established distributors – в ущерб уже работающим оптовым торговцам ("дистрибуторам")

Lee and Levis – "Ли" и "Ливайс" – крупные фирмы по производству джинсов

to eliminate your commission or profit – тем самым лишить вас комиссионных или прибыли

Do not try to bribe buyers – He стремитесь давать взятки чиновникам, покупающим партии товара

to blow the whistle – разоблачить, вывести на чистую воду

are quickly out of date – быстро устаревают

Professional mail order firms place a high value on – Профессиональные фирмы, работающие по "почтовым заказам", высоко ценят ...

to get your foot in the door – проникнуть

what kind of loom the cloth in a blouse was made on – на каком ткацком станке был изготовлен материал для блузки

you must know the answer or come across as unprofessional – вы должны знать ответ или прослывете непрофессионалом

boutiques, hardware stores, pharmacies, or other speciality retail outlets – бутики, магазины скобяных изделий, аптеки и другие специализированные торговые точки

get a small order on the spot – получить небольшой заказ на месте

the telephone yellow pages – телефонный справочник или раздел в нем, имеющий список компаний, который составлен по принципу предлагаемых товаров или услуг

Flea markets are growing like crabgrass – "Блошиные" рынки растут как сорная трава

a very price conscious channel – чутко реагирующий на цены канал сбыта

this technique isn't foolproof – этот метод не абсолютно надежен

by media advertising – посредством рекламы в средствах массовой коммуникации

You must offer them some incentive. – Вы должны создать для них какой-нибудь стимул.

local laws may make it nearly impossible for you to get rid of him – местные законы могут сделать для вас невозможной попытку избавиться от него

that he had violated Saudi law – что он нарушил законы Саудовской Аравии

to turn down an agent's order – отказаться от заказа агента