Importing

A guide to choosing an import agent

Many people claim to be able to import products successfully for you - after all - how difficult can it be? - All you need to do is to phone round a few factories, arrange a price and a delivery date and pay them the money!

It isn't so easy to import in real life, and some of the pitfalls that inexperienced companies can fall into are:

finding the right supplier: many factories will say that of course they can make exactly what you need – but how do you know that they can ? When we are only going to the Far East because of price, how can you be sure of their quality standards when you do not share a common language or business culture?

organising all of the details: the sheer consequence of wrong specification, or interpretation of meanings can be cataclysmic. Then there is customs, shipping and monitoring. If you cost in a trip or two, and senior management time, then doing it yourself may not be the cheapest solution at all

arranging payment: how do you go about paying someone in a different currency in a different language in a different time zone in a way that results in neither of you getting cheated? What is the best method, and what terms are standard.

Frequently the only people capable of delivering such a demanding task on time and on budget are the most senior people in the company: but is simply sourcing a new product really the best use of the most capable people you have?