How Do You Go Swimming in the Trade Channel?

Being familiar with the players in the import and export business is not enough to make you succeed. It is equally important to understand the channels through which products travel from the manufacturer to the end user. Since there is usually an intermediary whose role is to resell to consumers, the source is actually swimming around three levels of distribution. The middleman or intermediary is either an agent who functions as a broker but does not take title to the goods or a merchant who buys products and later puts them out for resale.

However you may want to configure your trade channel, your fellow swimmers could include any of the following players:

Retailer – This is the tail end of the chain where the product is bought by the consumer. Simply put, consider a computer company purchasing a program to pass along to PC buyers as part of a package.

Representative – This refers to the savvy salesperson who tries to sell merchandise to retail or wholesale buyers and then passes the sale on to end consumers.

Distributor – This pertain to the company that purchases imported products and sells the same to an agent or retailer until they reach the target audience.

Manufacturer’s Representative – Aside from being the salesperson who specialises in a particular type of goods, this entity may also provide additional product assistance, including technical service and warehousing.

Now, which tides do you think can you hurdle?