As your business grows and diversifies, so does the customer base and the order locations. If you aren’t preparing to reach out to customers in different locations, you are already giving up on many opportunities.
One of the most challenging things about building an exporting business is finding customers, let alone finding efficient ways to export products. Fortunately, Indian products such as spices, handicraft items, textiles, jewellery and leather products are in high demand globally, making it easy to find international buyers. However, the competition in the global market is no less intense. Several Indian exporters are trying to establish a foothold in the foreign markets. A strategic approach is therefore required to expand your reach.
For a business that has just launched or is trying to expand to other countries, there are multiple factors to consider before you start exporting products to other countries. On the brighter side, however, an exporting business in India has more advantages than ever. Directly complementing the Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) scheme in India, the Indian government has taken various initiatives and reforms to make it easier to start an exporting business in India. As a result, in FY22 alone, India exported $670 billion worth of exports, significantly boosting the economy.
The Fundamentals Of An Exporting Business
Exporting is a daunting task that requires proper identification and research.
- Identification: An important part of a successful business is realising who your end customer is. Whether you’re a business that sells fitness drinks or a business that sells tech products for offices, it’s important to know what type of audience your product is designed for.
- While businesses have different criteria to identify, international buyers for Indian products, you can usually start by identifying the age groups of your target audience, their interests, their language, or their location.
- Research: If you are looking for how to export your product from India or any other country, the second fundamental is to critically review the demand for your product in a particular location.
- Conduct extensive research on the competitors and the general costs for your industry in the export area. It allows you to build a personalised road map for exporting your products while also reducing the chances of uncertainties.
6 Ways To Find International Buyers For Indian Products
Selling in another country isn’t easy at all. Because of the cultural and travel barriers, you might have to do a bit of research before exporting products to other countries. From finding international buyers to looking for the right methods of shipping and finding the right distributors, every step is crucial.
Here are a few tips to help you find international buyers for your Indian products:
1. Conduct Thorough Research:
The first step in the process should be identifying whether the international market you are targeting offers adequate opportunities. A thorough research can help identify the same. Some aspects that require consideration and should form the subject of your research are the economic conditions of the country, taxes levied on imported goods in your target countries and the import quotas. It is equally important to find out about the disposable income of the average citizen in the country you plan to export.
Develop a Website with Multiple Country Versions:
A website having multiple country versions will help potential buyers residing in different countries acquaint themselves with your brand and products. All the information they require about your company and its offerings should be available on the website. This is an affordable means to create an understanding of your products and services among your potential clients.
Use Advertising To Your Benefit:
Advertising is probably one of those methods that will never become irrelevant. Because of how frequently people outside the world use search engines and social media platforms, you always have a way to reach people outside your country.
Investing in methods such as search engine marketing or social media marketing can easily get your business discovered by completely new audiences.
Tools like Google Ads easily allow you to target a particular state/country worldwide. With features such as:
- Optimised budget spending,
- Multiple advertising goals (including lead collection),
- Highly-detailed, keyword-based targeting,
Building an effective search engine marketing strategy will easily allow you to export products from India to other countries.
You can also resort to methods like search engine optimization (SEO) to optimize your website to be displayed in the Google search results whenever anybody searches for a product you sell.
Look Up Online Directories:
Online directories are helpful when it comes to finding international buyers for Indian products. By extracting information from these directories, you may reach out to businesses that may be interested in buying your export products.
2. Start A Foreign Wholesale Export:
As you start making sales with your exports and bag some good customer reviews, you can move ahead to contact wholesalers that work with other manufacturers and business owners.
Signing up with wholesalers allows you to use their network to your advantage. They can easily stock up on your product on the local shelves in their country. But, of course, it becomes much easier if your product has demand in other countries.
When it comes to wholesalers, signing up with private sellers and firms is quicker than with government agencies.
Even though wholesale in a different country will also include taxes and extra cuts from the profits, it’s well worth building a customer base in other countries for your product.
Contact The Chamber Of Commerce:
Countries around the world have chambers of commerce that amass huge networks of businesses. They have global business connections. By contacting the chamber of commerce, you can get information about importers for your goods in your target country. It is a good idea to enlist your business on the chamber’s website. This simple step can increase the visibility of your business among international buyers. Through the chamber of commerce, you may even connect with international business lawyers and accountants who can offer guidance about managing global commerce.
3. Trade Fairs
Exhibitions and trade fairs easily allow small and big Indian exporters to showcase their various products and find opportunities to visit international buyers.
Different countries have different trade fairs that you can participate in to connect with potential international buyers for Indian products. Depending on your target export country, you can join the trade fairs of the respective country and try to network with the local sellers.
If you can’t immediately travel to another country for the same reason, you can find multiple Indian exhibitions that attract international buyers. In addition, you can keep a close eye on the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO) to look for the next trade fair happening in the country.
Trade fairs also allow you to sample your products and answer product-related questions. If lucky, you might even strike some deals.
4. Use Third-Party Agencies
Most countries have agencies that import products in bulk to meet the demands of their respective countries. These agencies could be helpful for your business, especially if you have had some presence in their local markets in the past.
Buying agents give you bulk orders, which takes the ‘on-demand’ responsibility away from your business. In India, you can specifically reach out to embassies and export authorities to discuss the scope of exporting bulk orders.
Different kinds of agencies specialise in importing different products from industries like agricultural products, technological and IT equipment, medical equipment, raw materials, and other industries. Most importantly, a third-party agency easily helps you overcome language and cultural barriers.
5. Use Online Marketplaces
Over the years, online marketplaces like Amazon and Shopify have garnered much attention.
Due to the popularity and reach of these platforms in every country, people prefer ordering most things from these marketplaces only. Therefore, it is a great way to introduce your product to international markets.
Due to its presence in more than 58 countries, selling on Amazon is easy. If you plan to sell on a marketplace like Amazon, you can sign up as a seller in your target company.
This means that if you are an Indian business owner that wants to export products to the UK, you’d have to sign up as a seller in the UK.
In the same way, you’d have to sign up as a Shopify seller to start selling products in other countries. Because of the availability and convenient selling process, many business owners usually resort to marketplaces like Shopify and Amazon to export their products to other countries.
6. Find Your Salesperson
Commissioning a salesperson in a foreign location is not just an ideal way to distribute your products but also research the market and the right method to find new buyers for your export products.
A salesperson works very much like a foreign wholesaler. However, in this case, your salesperson is only associated with your business, so they will only work on building your business in a foreign location. A salesperson would also look for individuals and firms for your exports.
Even though in the beginning, it might raise the cost of goods for you, since you have a sales representative to pay. But at the same time, your business would be able to find more buyers for your export products this way. Businesses usually resort to these methods to find potential buyers and markets to export their products.
Quick Tips for Building Your Export Business
- Assess your ability to enter the overseas market and cater to the demands of international buyers.
- Learn about the customs duties and taxes levied on export and import items to plan your expenses efficiently.
- Understand the legal regulations for exporting your products and the laws associated with selling them in your target country.
- Draft a strategic export business plan before seeking international buyers for Indian products.
- Make sure the content on your website can be translated to your target country’s language.
- Select appropriate social media platforms to reach international buyers in different countries. Some platforms may be banned in certain countries while others may not be as popular. To increase the visibility of your products in your chosen market and encourage sales, you must promote them on platforms that are actively used there.
Conclusion
India’s main export products with the highest demand in the foreign markets are handicrafts, leather goods, tobacco, Indian gold and jewellery, tea exports, textiles, and a wide variety of products.
Because of this, setting up your business to export products to different parts of the world could be beneficial. Considering the schemes from the Government of India to boost the exporting economy, it makes perfect sense to start preparing your business to reach out to the global markets.
However, before you start looking for international buyers for Indian products and begin exporting your products, it’s important to conduct proper research about the target markets, their needs, and the behaviour they could have for a new product like yours.
With a platform like ShiprocketX, it is easier to start exporting products to different parts of the world. Choosing an efficient courier platform can easily allow you to ship and export your products all around the world.
