SECURE AN IMPORT DISTRIBUTORSHIP
Securing brand distribution for your country is a different path to take when importing. For one, you are unlikely to be working with factories direct and managing the challenges that go with that – like production quality control. Instead you should be introducing an established product and brand into a new market and leveraging the existing marketing materials, brand awareness and support as provided by the brand owner.
It can be a great way to get started, and we have has clients do both – introduce an established brand and the momentum from an existing business, while developing complementary products under their own label.
Do you know the difference between an import sales agent and an import distributor?
A sales agent doesn’t import your product, they make sales and take commission. Sales agent can be better suited to large one off equipment where it is not feasible to store product, and often made to order. In most countries except the United States, sales agents generally are not well suited to consumer products. In the USA agents/brokers are needed but they charge a monthly retainer, plus commission. It
In most countries except the USA, distributors are the most common method of exporting. If you take on a distributor, just be aware of your commitments, such as:
- Importer buys and takes ownership of the product
- Warehouses and sells it to end customers or retailers
As a result the importer should be taking a larger margin, and have a range of collaborative agreements in place with the brand owner/exporter to jointly market, service and support the product.
We have done a lot of work setting up distribution agreements for the importer and exporter for a wide range of prodcts, and cover this in some detail as part of the launch process in our programs – how to target wholesale customers and scale up.