basic-guide-to-exporting_Latest_eg_main_086196

We are agnostic on the question of which method is the best for you. Indeed, youmay use more than one—selling directly to end-users via your website, selling ona major B2B or B2C e-commerce platform, engaging an agent to find buyers in aparticular geographic area of the world, and selling to an EMC. There is no one “best”way.Approaches to ExportingThe way or ways you choose to export your products can have a significant effecton your export plan and specific marketing strategies. The various approaches toexporting relate to your company’s level of involvement in the export process. Fourgeneral approaches may be used alone or in combination:1. Passively filling orders from domestic buyers, who then export the product.These sales are indistinguishable from other domestic sales as far as the originalseller is concerned. Another party has decided that the product in questionmeets foreign demand. That party assumes all the risks and handles all theexporting details, in some cases even without the original seller being aware ofit. (Many companies take a stronger interest in exporting when they discoverthat their product is already being sold overseas.) A little-known fact is thatcompanies that don’t make the products exported comprise the majority ofexporting companies. Unlike the exporting companies profiled in this book,many companies make products for export but do not actually export theproducts themselves.2. Seeking out domestic buyers who represent foreign end-users orcustomers. Many U.S. and foreign corporations, general contractors, foreigntrading companies, foreign government agencies, foreign distributors, retailers,and others in the United States purchase for export. These buyers constitutea large market for a wide variety of goods and services. In this approach, yourcompany may know that its product is being exported, but the domestic buyerstill assumes the risks and handles the details of exporting.3. Exporting indirectly through intermediaries. With this approach, yourcompany engages the services of an intermediary company that is capable offinding foreign markets and buyers for your products. EMCs, ETCs, internationaltrade consultants, and other intermediaries can give you access to wellestablishedexpertise and trade contacts, but you retain considerable controlover the process and can realize some of the other benefits of exporting, such aslearning more about foreign competitors, new technologies, and other marketopportunities. A variation on this channel is the use of e-commerce platformssuch as those described above. They offer to handle the logistics in return forfees. As your product sells via their e-commerce site, you get notification torestock and they send you payment. Another option is that they sell via the siteand you do the shipping. Another form of indirect exporting is when you hirean agent on a commission and the agent uses his or her contacts to sell yourproducts in other countries.60U.S. Commercial Service • A Basic Guide to Exporting