If you are an exporter of FMCG products, then the specialist FMCG importers are your best bet for export success because in their niche field they understand the needs of their customers and know where the potential lies in their markets. Following are 7 tips to locate professional FMCG distributors:
1. FMCG Importers Directory: An FMCG importers directory is the fastest shortcut and most reliable approach to locating professional FMCG importers unless you are willing to spend your precious time in searching all over the internet for long periods of time. Unlike the other sources mentioned below, a premium specialist FMCG importers directory can provide you with full up-to-date contact information of selected well-established FMCG distributors including their email and website addresses. This will enable you to visit the FMCG distributors’ websites and study their unique profile so that you can tailor your offer to their needs.
2. Your Current Distributors: Ask your current foreign distributors to recommend potential FMCG distributors in their neighboring countries.
3. Foreign Chambers of Commerce: Search the internet for the websites of the foreign national chambers of commerce and look for their ‘members directory’ to locate the sectors relating to your products. Disadvantage of this members directories is that they mostly provide only mailing address or outdated phone numbers.
4. Yellow Pages: Google for the national online yellow page of your target country and then look for your sector in the roll down menu of the classified categories. Unfortunately, these yellow pages mainly provide telephone numbers only.
5. Joint Chambers of Commerce: Search the internet for the joint chambers of commerce in your target country. For example, if your target country is “Angola”, you can Google for the Angola American Chamber of Commerce. Then go to the ‘members directory’ in the website. Unluckily, many of these websites admit only their members to access the ‘members directory’. Also activities of the directory members are not classified well enough to identify the FMCG distributors.
6. Country Business Directories: Google for the online business directory of your target country and then look in the website for either ‘directory’ or ‘companies’ to get list of distributors or importers. Unfortunately, they do not categorize company activities to enable you to pinpoint the FMCG distributors.
7. Free Directory Ads: You will find in the above mentioned online country business directories a section for free classifieds. You can place in the business section in the free classifieds an advertisement for well established FMCG importers and upload pictures of your products. To avoid spammers, don’t show your business email address. Dedicate a temporary Yahoo!/Hotmail/Gmail address for this purpose. Also make sure that you run sufficient background checks on the responders who may respond to your ad.
Since time is a precious commodity, the most cost-effective approach would obviously be to go for the first option of the specialist FMCG importers directory.
