Regardless of the size of your business, exporting offers you a great opportunity to expand internationally. However, several steps must be taken to ensure that your company is export-ready. Exporting is a complex process. If you are considering exporting for the first time, we recommend that you work with a logistics partner to ensure you are complying with all laws, properly managing costs and expectations, and taking advantage of opportunities. In this post, we share the knowledge before exporting.
Companies need to solve three challenges to grow into an export business:
Sales/Marketing Angle
Determine the target market for your product, including which country to start from and which sales channels in that country will sell and/or distribute it. It is wise to focus on one new export market at a time.
Manufacturing/Operations Perspective
Adapt your products to new market demands, systems and regulations. The most common example is the voltage difference between Europe and the US - appliances must meet a system inherent in the target market country. Check out our Manufacturers Resource page here.
Logistics point of view
Logistics providers that design and execute the movement of goods between countries using a variety of methods such as sea, air, and truck are known as freight forwarders. Logistics providers experienced in handling shipments to your target export country will save you time and money through their network of suppliers, experience handling country-specific paperwork, and knowledge of how it works behind the scenes .
Growing your manufacturing business by exporting doesn't have to be intimidating. With the right help from federal and state programs, you can successfully understand how exporting can grow your business, create a plan to effectively expand into export markets, and benefit from the experience of other manufacturers who have already done so.
A logistics partner can help you:
- Arrange and manage your customs broker relationships. A customs broker is a required party for any cross-border shipment.
- Arrange and manage any long-term import and export bonds. In some cases these are required. In other cases, they're just being financially smart, depending on the volume of shipments. In some cases, only 4 shipments per year can justify shipments with annual bonded and shipping surcharges.
- Provides information and helps set expectations regarding international cargo transit times and in-transit cargo visibility. Hint: We are spoiled in America!
- Strategies to help you determine how to ship your cargo from a variety of options, such as full vs. partial ocean containers or economy vs. priority air.
- Help you determine your Incoterms strategy. Incoterms define who is responsible for transportation between buyers and sellers and where the ownership of goods actually changes hands. Novice exporters often learn very expensive lessons because they are negotiating with overseas buyers who understand the value of the correct incoterm.
TJ chinafreight provides international freight forwarding services to more than 100 countries around the world for export to the world by air or sea.
