Through online b2b trade portals:
Imports cannot only be of direct kind, there can be many indirect imports for b2b purposes e.g. medical, dental disposable items e.g. the one you see on your dentist’s table when you go for a root canal, the plastic grain used to make your copper wire cables, raw materials for pharmaceuticals, etc
Pakistan is a nation of around 200 million people, which makes it a market full of potential. The recent quarterly report by the state bank about Pakistan’s economy also states that the restaurants, ready to cook food market and other products concerned with the middle class are booming. Whenever the middle class is booming, the demand for consumption, particularly luxury goods, increases. And this represents a very good case of an import business, particularly luxury goods imports e.g. makeup, perfumes, garments, shoes and direct consumable items which people have to wear directly. Imports cannot only be of direct kind, there can be many indirect imports for b2b purposes e.g. medical, dental disposable items e.g. the one you see on your dentist’s table when you go for a root canal, the plastic grain used to make your copper wire cables, raw materials for pharmaceuticals, etc. Imports are not given much importance or hype in the media because they disturb a country’s balance of payments but many of the imports are necessary and used to make finished products e.g. imported cotton, pharmaceutical raw materials, etc.
Given the booming middle class, rising imported goods demand may not be good from a country’s point of view but they can be certainly good from a personal point of view if one wants to start an import business.Official data from Pakistan Bureau of Statistics also confirms this fact. According to the data, Pakistan’s total imports for the year 2015 – 2016 registered a 0.3pc increase while in the same time period imports for consumer goods registered a 7pc increase. Interesting, the import of raw materials for the local production of consumer goods registered a whopping negative growth of 17pc. Here are some secrets of the import business through online b2b trade portals from my personal experience as I amalso involved in the dental imports business. But, before starting any import business, don’t forget the fundamentals i.e. preparing a feasibility, making a business plan and deciding how you will sell your goods.
- How to find the right supplier
Like many buyers, the first problem which a newbie importer, or even if he has been in the industry for some time, has to face is from where to start. One option is to visit your principal country while the other option is to contact the companies working in your selected country from Pakistan and import products without even meeting your principal company. This presents an issue of trust but on the other hand visiting the country from where you have to import may include a lot of cost involved. Secondly, at the time on which you want to go, may be, there are no trade shows so again your visit might be fruitless. So, this represents a conundrum which one needs to solve.
Thanks to modern technology, this issue has been solved by modern big b2b trade websites. There are many b2b trade portals now e.g. hktdc.com, made-in-china.com. The most reliable and the most trust worthy among them is alibaba.com. When we started trade, we never went to China and everything was done through alibaba.com. At alibaba.com, you make an account and post your RFQ (request for quotation) and several suppliers start quoting based on your product specification and required quantity. You then ask for a sample which they send you through DHL (you have to pay for it) and if the sample is okay for you, then you place an order and send the money.
Many people may think about the payment issue and trust for ordering such huge orders through these online b2b websites but thanks to Ali baba.com, it gives a solution to all these issues. Usually there are three kinds of issues which arise in importing goods, particularly for small volume imports, whether through online or offline means. One is the payments issue, as usually for small volume imports the importer usually asks for a cash payment. Second issue is of quality of the goods. And the third issue is of company verification.
- Payment issue
The first issue is the payment issue that what if you transfer the money to your supplier and your order was never delivered (If you are sending the cash payment through T/T i.e. Telegraphic Transfer and are not using any bank payment mode e.g. LC, etc.). Such issues do happen in small volume imports worth under Rs5-6 million. One of the persons in dental industry ordered goods worth Rs2 million which were never delivered. When they tried to contact the sales agent to whom they transferred the money, her number was switched off. That sales agent was working with that company for the last three years and she said to them for this order that bank account of the company has changed so please send the payment to this new bank account. The mistake which they did was that they did not confirm it from any other person of the company. And that was actually that sales girl’s own bank account.
Alibaba.com solves this problem by providing its own escrow/secure payment services. If you will transfer the money through Alibaba’s secure payment services, your supplier will not get the money until he will not handover the goods and the documents to your logistics company. We imported our goods in the same way for the first time and it’s quite safe and secure. One can trust alibaba.com as it is a US$200 billion company and its founder, Jack Ma, is the among the world’s richest people.
- Quality of goods
The other issue which can happen is the quality of goods; that the sample which was sent to you is of some other quality while the actuals goods which were sent to you were of inferior quality. These online portals particularly Alibaba.com also gives the solution to this problem by giving you the services of the goods inspectors which are verified from Alibaba.com. They will charge you a certain fee between $50-100 and will verify the goods from your supplier on your provided quality guide lines before your goods are shipped to your shipping agent. Now Ali Baba is also giving the shipping services so you can get a one stop solution from a single b2b portal.
One of the persons in dental industry ordered goods worth Rs2 million which were never delivered. When they tried to contact the sales agent to whom they transferred the money, her number was switched off
- Authentication of the supplier
Another problem which arises in sourcing from online b2b portal is the authentication of the supplier as it may be just a fraud, or a one man army sitting at a public library and trying to trade with you without forming any company. The best way to judge the authentication of your buyer is in two ways. One is to ask the license number and registration of his company. In China, every export company has got a license number and a company registration number. They will send you two documents, albeit in Chinese, which will be sufficient to prove his credibility. If you are more cautious, then you can take those documents to a Chinese language centre in your city or e mail them the document and ask them to tell you what is written there. The other way is to call on the land line number provided by the company and ask them if the concerned person is there to make sure it is a company office no.
With all these precautionary measures through any online b2b trade portal, you can successfully import goods without ever visiting the country of your supplier. But, preferably, you should visit your supplier or any big trade show of your industry once your business is scaled.
(Disclaimer: I am not in any way connected with alibaba.com. Nor it is a sponsored article on alibaba.com’s behalf. This article in its best intent tries to give complete informationabout trading through online b2b trade portal.)
