How to Source and Sell Products Globally
Do you have a good idea? Looking for a product to import and sell? Or do you want to expand your current business by selling to an international market?
Deciding on your target market to which selling products internationally is the starting point. To start selling online you would need access to an online marketplace where your target audience can be captured. Customer service in an ecommerce business is crucial for the customer experience. International customers and international sales require and international approach.
Here are some popular web trading platforms and ways to source and sell internationally, helping your business go global. Run through the following sections so that you know your target countries before you start your international shipping.
Using Web Trading Portals
The first and easiest avenue to start searching for a product to sell or a place to sell your product is the global business-to-business (B2B) web portals.
These web portals showcase products from suppliers situated all over the globe and often have systems in place to verify that suppliers are legitimate.
Products can easily be listed on these online stores / websites for exposure to an audience interested in international sourcing.
A number of the most popular and trusted web portals are listed below. The websites have easy search functions that can assist with searching for products per category or country.
Web-platforms hosting products from multiple countries
The following websites can be used to source/sell products from/to multiple countries:
Globalsources.com
Alibaba.com
Aliexpress.com – a good web portal for smaller orders as it does not have strict minimum order quantities (MOQs) which is common with the others
Tradekey.com
Importexportplatform.com
MFGtrade.com
Toboc.com
EC21.com
Tradove.com
DIYTrade.com
Web-platforms listing products from Asia
ETradeAsia.com
HKTDC.com
DHgate.com
ECVV.com
Made-in-China.com
GoBizKorea.com
Computex.biz – web-platform focused on Asian IT (information technology) suppliers
LovelyWholesale.com – a Chinese wholesale platform focused on women's apparel.
Web-platforms listing products from other specific areas
African products may be sourced on the following web-portal:
Africa.Tradeholding.com
Attend Trade Shows
Trade shows are a very popular means of international sourcing or exposing your existing products to new international buyers. Trade shows follow a theme and are generally industry specific. Advantages of visiting trade shows include:
- Opportunity to view numerous products suited to your industry at one destination at one time
- Opportunity to for buyers and sellers to meet face to face, thus establishing trust and building relationship
- Opportunity to assess quality of products before orders are placed
- Opportunity to compare products side by side to find most suitable product
- Opportunity to network with global businesses in your industry
- Exposure to the latest products and new trends in industry
- Exposure to ideas that can be implemented in a local business
- Opportunity to identify suitable potential agents, distributors for your product in foreign countries
- Opportunities to test public reaction to your products
Funding to attend trade shows
South Africa currently offers funding for South African exporters that would like to attend trade shows. Typical expenses covered by this funding include:
- Sample transport;
- Exhibition space rental;
- Stand construction;
- Interpretation fees;
- Internet connection;
- Telephone installation;
- Subsistence allowance per day;
- Return economy-class airfare; and
- Exhibition fees
It is advisable to contact the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for more information about these incentives.
Where to find a suitable trade shows
To find a tradeshow in your industry you may search in the below links or Google ‘your industry’ and ‘trade show’. Below are also some websites where you can search for a trade show.
10times.com
Tradeshow.tradekey.com
ECplaza.net/tradefair
Tradeshow.Globalsources.com
Made-in-China.com
Search methods in the local country
Local internet directories
In addition to the global online business to business web-portals listed above there are local portals that list products for a specific country only.
These directories are easy to search for a product and to list a product on. An example of a local directory is Cylex. Below are Cylex directories for different countries. You can also search online search engines like Google for business directories in certain countries.
South Africa – www.cylex.co.za
United Kingdom – www.cylex-uk.co.uk
Spain – www.cylex-espana.es (this website is in Spanish)
Canada – www.cylex.ca
Australia – www.cylex.com.au
Hungary – www.cylex-tudakozo.hu (this website is in Hungarian)
France – www.cylex-france.fr (this website is in French)
Italy – www.cylex.it (this website is in Italian)
USA – www.cylex-usa.com
Many countries have a local ‘yellow pages’ business directory. This directory can be found on Google by searching the country’s name and ‘yellow pages’.
Local search engines
Many countries have country specific search engines. Some of the country specific search engines are owned by Google for example Google’s South African specific search engine in www.google.co.za. This search engine will search for South African based websites.
To make international sourcing easier you can find country specific search engines by typing the country and ‘search engine’ into Google. For example, the results for ‘Australia search engine’ include Google.com.au, Webwombat.com.au, Searchenginez.com.au/ etc.
This method is most effective for counties whose languages you can understand. Google has a function that translates some pages but this does leave room for misunderstandings.
Local Chamber of Commerce or trade office
Each country’s local chamber of commerce or department of trade and industry may be contacted for assistance in sourcing a product. Some countries are eager to grow their exports and are willing to assist with international sourcing queries. Note that your order quantities will need to be large to stimulate interest from the chamber of commerce.
Other methods of international sourcing and selling
Social media
Linked In is the platform most geared to making B2B connections. It has a search function that can be used to locate people in certain industries or companies.
E-Magazine and directory listing
Most industries publish trade magazines that give the latest global industry news. They are a good source of new ideas and market research to keep you updated with progress and the latest product offerings in the industry.
Find the publications most geared to your industry to find new products and list your offering.
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