• Import a Brand and Become a Distributor in Your Market

    Million dollar idea importing secrets

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.

HOW TO SET-UP AN IMPORT DISTRIBUTOR ARRANGEMENT

For a brand owner, distribution is a great way to cost effectively export your brand around the globe, without the cost of marketing and sales in each country. For the importer, its also a great opportunity to tap into new products before they are launched in your country. A good distribution agreement really is win/win and can develop into a mutually profitable, long term agreement for both brand owner and importer.

A brand will often look after their own market, then seek distributors in the biggest and best suited export markets for their product. Most of the world looks to the USA, but as noted above, distributorships can be challenging and not the norm for many sectors. Europe is big, but diverse of course due to multiple language so distributors can be appointed for groups of countries or individually for the big ones – UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy. East Asian markets are popular but often marketing and some product development may be needed to adapt the product for each country.

Many brands look past Australia and New Zealand – populations are just not that big even through economies and currencies are quite strong. This presents opportunities as many new product are launched every year that don’t find their way down under for  a little while after launch. Australian and New Zealand’s economies are generally strong recently, and so are the currencies of each country our economy is strong and so is our dollar.

If you have a product range, and are looking to expand it with unique products from different markets, learn to set-up an import distributorship and launch it to market.

For importers, we can support you in the same way we have supported many other brands, with our importer development programs, advisory and workshops.

Some of the key areas of support we provide include:

  • Distributor agreement – what to expect and what to negotiate for a better deal
  • Costs margins and pricing – average margins across sectors, cost splitting and pricing rules
  • Online and offline pricing and responsibilities
  • Marketing collaboration and sales support
  • MOQ, penalties and exit options
  • Lots more……there is a lot involved

Got a product or brand in mind? Get started and know you have the support at hand.

WHY START AN IMPORT DISTRIBUTORSHIP?

Thousands of products are launched every year, brand owners look for distributors to work together and bring the product to new countries. But there are challenges, every market is different so a local distributor can guide a brand through the complexities of regulations, customer needs and market trends and lead the marketing and sales.

For the entrepreneurial import distributor, bring value to the brand and hunt down new product and brands overseas and actively seek out brands. Think about the opportunity to introduce a new concept to your country, 12 – 18 months before competitors. Its possible, we know why as we have supported many businesses to do it.

Here are some of the areas we advise potential import distributors:

  • How and where to find hot new products – which is different for many industries
  • How to pitch yourself to a brand to become a distributor
  • How to import and launch a new product with an established brand to your country
  • Lots more…

Have you found a brand you would like to distribute?

LIKE TO BECOME AN IMPORT DISTRIBUTOR?


Join the My Import Label Community of Importers

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