Located in the South of Asia, India is one of the world’s largest countries. It is the second most populated country after China, and because of its population, there is an increase in education and its natural resources.
As the world is becoming technologically advanced, importing from India has become increasingly rewarding both in terms of profit and personal satisfaction. However, individuals need to learn how to import from India professionally.
Steps to Take Before Contacting Suppliers in India
When importing from India, it is necessary to understand that suppliers are essential to every business, and without them to provide what you resell, your business will have a tough time growing. In other to import goods from India in a professional way, some steps need to be taken into consideration.
A business owner should ask in the first email that is sent to the manufacturer, about their Minimum Order Quantity, what kind of upfront deposit they require to begin production and the process of getting a refund in case of emergency.
Another crucial step is to investigate the manufacturing capacity, shipping, and packaging of the goods while importing from India. Not inquiring about these, might cause difficulties between the manufacturer and the business owner. Furthermore, inquiries on product samples and the legitimacy of the company or factory that produces the goods should not be left aside.
How to Research Regulations, Materials, and Popular Products?
Before you engage in importing from India, you should ascertain whether there is a market for your product or service and if there is a need to improve the product. Simply put, you must conduct market research.
Many entrepreneurs neglect this vital step because they do not want to hear any negative feedback about their products and are convinced that their product is perfect the way it is. Therefore, they do not want to risk tampering with it.
On the other hand, some business owners who try to import from India, neglect market research because they fear it will be too expensive. No matter the reason, failing to do market research can cause the fall of your product.
An entrepreneur should first contact the association he or she belongs to because every association, can offer information such as market statistics, lists of members, and books and reference materials that a business owner can use to gather information.
Contacting government agencies is also an invaluable source of market research and most of it free. Maps also show major areas of commerce and can also help you judge the accessibility of various sites while importing from India because it will help you determine the limits of your market area.
Another way to research regulations, materials, and popular products, is through Local colleges and universities, which has students in business departments who are eager to work, gathering information, and doing research at little or no cost.
Entrepreneurs can also conduct market research without ever leaving their computers, thanks to the ease of online services and information.
How to Find Best Suppliers For Your Business Quickly?
Doing business especially with suppliers, who you might never meet, poses some risks. In India, while most suppliers are legitimate, there are always some who want to exploit unsuspecting customers. Unfortunately, e-Commerce scams are very common, and this is why one must be careful when importing from India. However, there are steps you can take to protect yourself.
To determine the type of supplier you need in other to import from India, you must first know that there are different types of suppliers that you will run into. The manufacturers, wholesalers, drop shippers, and importing agents.
When choosing any of these suppliers, you must first look at the quality of their items, their proven track record, and the supplier evaluation checklist. This will help you to choose and find the best suppliers quickly and will make it easy to import from India.
Download the list of supplier/manufacturer in India
Learn to Formulate Emails to Suppliers
Formulating emails in a professional way to suppliers will help ease of importing from India. To write an email to a supplier, entrepreneurs, and business owners must consider the relationship they have with the supplier and the context of the product they want. If the supplier and business owner have a good relationship, the email can be less formal.
The context of the email, on the other hand, should be brief but must convey why you are interested in working with the manufacturer and what you could bring to the table. A businessperson should be able to communicate key metrics that your suppliers want to know as numbers, affect production, and also cash flow.
The essential point to remember while importing from India is that suppliers are very busy. So, all information should be clearly stated so that the transaction record is immediately accessible to the supplier. For solicitation emails such as quotations of prices, one must be clear about numbers and quantities.
How to Calculate Your Shipping Costs to Get Accurate Landing Prices?
Landing price which is also referred to as net landed cost, or total delivered cost, is the total price of a product, up until it reaches the buyer’s doorstep and includes the original price of the product, custom, duties, and insurance.
It is important to know how to calculate your shipping costs while importing from India because it allows you to accurately calculate profit on each unit you ship and so, it will give you a clear vision of your business’ performance. The best way to calculate shipping costs to get accurate landing prices is to use this basic equation:
Product + Shipping + Customs + Risks + Overhead = Landing cost
Using this method to calculate your landing price will help you professionally import goods from India and will benefit business owners.
Save Time with Data Management
It is quite amazing the time entrepreneurs who want to import from India, waste each week searching for data or replicating data that already exists. But, with the use of data management, business owners can save as much time when importing to India.
Without good data management, your organization may not be able to make better decisions or increase profits. Hence, data management can be seen as the process of acquiring, storing, protecting, and using data in an accessible, reliable, and meaningful way.
Data management is beneficial to many people especially business owners who wish to import goods from India. This is because it helps to save time spent by all authorized data users to look for the information they need. It also helps to save time for new data integrations, including saving time spent in developing the next business intelligence or analytics application.
There are sourcing agents in India who can help to import products from India. ActonaSourcing is also a sourcing company who helps to import leather wallets, belts and bags from India.
