Pricing, regulation & fulfilling your first order
Susan Morley has over 35 years of practical experience of international trade, and heads up Morley Consulting Training. In this webinar she gives advice on pricing strategies and making the right choices to get your product safely and cost effectively to customers.
Product Approval: Regulations must be obeyed so that your product is considered safe in the country of destination. Your product must be tested and this is all done by government appointed bodies.
Packaging: You must meet the requirements of the countries of dispatch, of transit and of arrival. Other factors such as mode of transport, weather conditions, labelling and marking must be considered to protect your product.
Transport: You must take into account the cost required to transport your product or service. For example the delivery to port or airport, terminal change, freight agents (separate costs for import and export), custom fees and delivery to destination.
Documentation: You may not be able to fill out all your documents yourself, but these are the documents you’ll need to fill out in some way:
- Forms
- Certificates
- Legalisation
- Hazardous declarations
- Customs entries
- Export licences
- Import licences
Government fees: Factors affecting duties like the country of origin, anti-dumping duty and countervailing duty must be taken into account.
Incoterms: This means international contract terms. For example you must have a named place of business and contracted responsibilities.
Insurance: Your customers will demand a new product if there is a problem and it does not show up. You need to decide who will pay for the insurance and what type insurance plan you want such as insurance per shipment or an annual policy.
Questions and Answers
Here are some of the questions asked by the attendees at the end of the webinar. The times in which the questions were asked have also been given.
Who has responsibility for approval and packaging – the brand owner or wholesaler? (28:20)
It could be either, the brand owner can technically produce goods without having to organise, if a wholesaler buys the goods and wants to ship the goods it is their responsibility.
For a small business how much concern should there be regarding regulation? (43.57)
It is wise to take lots of advice, whether it is through research or the UKTI channels. In countries in South America, Asia and the Middle-East there are a lot of regulations so it is prudent to be prepared.
Would it be reasonable to ask DHL express or another courier service for help? (46:55)
It is necessary to stay informed and to ask questions upfront when you choose your courier, DHL express has a new business team for supporting new businesses and is able to provide help.
If there are problems with getting your product to your customer, how do you prepare and mitigate against this? (49:44)
It is important to remember never to guarantee an arrival time in case of a delay. If there is problem with documentation, you must find out which document is missing and you will be able to sort out the problem from afar.
If there are a problems with the courier, what can be done? (51:53)
Throughout the shipping process, there are scanning events which are sent to the receiver and producer to track the movement of the product. If something does go wrong, a coordinated response can be quickly organised.