WWW.PECHSIAM.COM

Step By Step Buying Guide

Technical Information

 

                                                                                                                                  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Inquiry and Quotation

Most of the topics in this section are self-evident. To conduct the RICE and CANNED FOODS import business more efficiently with us, however, there are some basic concepts and points that the importance should be attached to.

1.1 Private-owned manufacturer and exporter companies 

First of all, you should know that the Thai Rice Millers and exporter are not authorized to export their products directly to the foreign buyers. In order to export, a manufacturer is required to apply for authorization from the Ministry of Commerce. In practice, they issue and sign on the Rice Export Permit documentation in each shipment with the foreign purchaser, quantity, quality, destination, shipment and the payment is made to us.

In case of canned foods we can export the products to our customers directly.

1.2. Initial contact 

We think, before you make the initial contact with us, you should know our sales strategy. As a manufacturer and exporter, it just doesn't make sense to retail our products to the foreign consumers piece by piece online. So, basically, our customers are the established international foods dealers and wholesalers. On the other hand, we realize, however, thanks to the rise of internet, a lot of small dealers, small specialist food stores, or even the individuals with innovative ideas and enterprising spirit, now are able to acquire as much info as "the big guys" in this business to import the Rice and Canned Foods directly from us or start a import business from a scratch with us at much better prices. Having known the trend, we've adopted a very flexible policy on order quantity since 1999. Now, our sales revenue is 50/50 split from the established dealers and "emerging" ones who usually make full use of internet for their distribution.

To sum up, our customers are:

1) those who buy bulk quantity of Rice and Canned Foods from us;

2) those who have a good idea - you don't have to be big, but you should be serious in starting or developing your foods business in a long term with us, and we'd like to back you up and grow with you.

To protect our dealers' interest, we've removed all the pricing from the site. But, some very curious end-users often fake dealers to ask for our prices for dealers and wholesalers to find how much they're "overcharged". So, when you make the initial contact with us, it's always better if you could give us a presentation or your idea about your business now or in the near future. PLEASE let us know you're our targeted customers or you're trying to be our customers

1.3. Inquiry

If you decide to work with us, then you may make inquiries over the Rice and Canned Foods products listed on our online catalogue.

And before you inquire about the Rice and Canned Foods that interest you, there are several international trade price terms you may want to learn first:

FOB: free on board and means that the exporter delivers the goods at the specified location. Example, FOB Bangkok.

C&F (CFR, CNF): Cost and Freight, with no insurance. The exporter pays the ocean shipping/air freight costs to the specified location. Example, C&F Los Angeles (the exporter pays the ocean shipping/air freight costs to Los Angeles).

CIF: Insurance, and Freight are all paid by the exporter to the specified location. Example, CIF Los Angeles (the exporter pays the ocean shipping/air freight costs to Los Angeles).

Please be specific on:

1) The estimated quantity you're going to order. If you're not sure about the order quantity, you may ask for a quotation breakdown for FCL20' or difficult to decide the volume order temporarily, we'll send you a price list, in price breakdown for each products, based on FOB Bangkok we offer.

2) The price term you want. We usually quote FOB, CIF or C&F

3) The destination air/sea port for CIF or C&F quotations. If your business is not based in a very big city such as New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Munich, etc, where there is international airport or sea port, you may want to find a freight forwarder or a customs broker to work out the destination air/sea port that is most convenient for your business.

Please also note the points as follow:

1) A quotation is usually made up of products cost, freight and insurance (in the case of CIF or C&F). But, some of you might feel uneasy about the export customs clearance and pallet & fumigation cost. The export customs clearance fee is charged by Thai Customs, and the rate is USD 30$ / shipment, no matter the value of the commodity. As for the pallet, it's the best protection. The pallet is made of wood, so it has to be fumigated to be exported to the countries like U.S., European Community and Australia, New Zealand. Charged by Fumigation companies, the fumigation treating rate is USD 50$ / shipment, no matter how many of pallets there are to be fumigated.

2) All the quotations are in USD and are only used for export.  Some of the customers might feel better to come to THAILAND and buy the products from us in Thai Baht. In this case, we've to re-quote you higher prices in BAHT.

3) All the PRODUCTS listed in our catalogue are proven to be quite popular ones in the markets worldwide, and are the products with optimum quality/ price ratio. And, we're going to add new model that is up to our standard to the catalogue. Some of you may inquire about the products that are not listed in our online catalogue. In this case, we'll decide whether or not to manufacture the products in question based on two principles:1) whether or not the products in question are in compliance with the market trend;   2) whether or not your quantity is large enough. Sometimes, our responses are not very encouraging, but, if we receive a lot of inquiries about the same type of products later on, we may manufacture and offer the products. So, file our address and keep in contact.

1.4. Customized branding 

Usually, if your order on 2 FCL20', you can have your private label. 

2. Freight/quantity optimization

Needless to say, the more your order, the lower the prices we offer.  But, you may not realize that the larger saving can be derived from the freight cost.  Please keep in mind that the products are shipped from one continent to another, so making good judgment on the transportation means and planning carefully will save you substantial money.

The ocean freight rate from Bangkok to New York

Transportation from Bangkok to the sea port of  New York by ship. 

The commodity is charged either as loose bulk or container for ocean freight. 

Ocean freight for break bulk 

The weight, is multiplied by the weight rate US Dollar per metricton 

Ocean freight for container 

The ocean freight rate for a 20 feet container from sea port of Bangkok via Singapore is US$ 2,900.  

Please note: 

1)  The above freight rates are subjected to changes. 

2)  The above freight rate is a basic guide only and made to give you a rough idea about the freight cost, you must have strong sales capability and enough disposable capital to order large.  

 

3. Homework at your end

 

The next thing you should do after you've located the Rice or Canned Foods to import is to set up your own business if you don't have one, think over whom you will sell the imports to, and how. 

3.1 Set up an import business

3.2 Conduct market research 

 

3.1. Set up an import business

 

For those of you who are new in import business, you must set up your import business to import the Rice and Canned Foods from us. You can set up your business in three ways:

1) as a sole proprietorship where you are solely responsible for all activities of your venture. 

2) forming a partnership, if you have a business partner. 

3) forming a corporation which is a bit complicated and probably not necessary in the beginning for those who start the import business from scratch.

 

In most cases, in most countries, you will be required to have a business license and perhaps pay sales tax. See your local government agencies for complete information on license requirements in your area. Check with the state chamber of commerce, local trade associations and professional groups for information on licenses and state registration.

It can be a critical step to select a bank that has some import/export experience. And a computer with access to internet and a fax machine are indispensable for your import business.

 

3.2. Conduct market research 

 

We've seen the customers who become successful, and we've seen the customers whose business fail to survive. After having reviewed all the cases, we've found that there is no uniform success formula, and there is no fixed pattern for "losers". But, in most cases, we find that how they market the Rice and Canned Foods makes the difference.

 

Import business, for the most part, is marketing intensive. Marketing your imports will require a lot of effort and planning on your part. While there are a lot of textbooks and articles from which you can learn on this topic, three aspects of marketing, speaking from our customers' success stories, are probably somewhat more important: know your customers, know your competitors and know yourself, and know how-to on pricing.

 

Know your customers - identifying the target market

 

Do you plan to sell to individuals, or to wholesale and retail companies, or by using sales agents? If plan to sell to individuals, what is your target market?

 

You can sell to all. But, please keep in mind that today's Rice and Canned Foods market is hyper-competitive. Usually, if you sell to all, you've to have enough capital to purchase more complete lines, order larger quantity on each products to lower down the cost and so to make the prices competitive, and to sell the large stock, you've to have a bigger budget for advertising. And you'll face up with much more competitions from more segments..

 

Or you can focus upon a niche market if you don't think you can afford to sell to all. You'll find that today's Rice and Canned Foods market, on the other hand, still has many different customer segments, each having different needs, wants, and characteristics, that need to be approached with a good or service designed to excel in meeting these needs, wants, and interests. Know who your target audience is, that is your perfect customer, you can begin to write your sales copy with a direct focus on their specific wants and needs, and you can focus your advertising campaigns in areas that you know they'll most likely be. You are far better off targeting a well-defined, niche market and dominating it - focusing on those sales that come easily than trying to sell your product to everyone and their pets.

 

To get a clear picture of exactly who your target market is, you may need to conduct a market survey. Or if you have already a lot of knowledge about the product and its market, just follow your intuition, and TRY - if failed, refocus, and retry. Persistence is a crucial contributing factor.

 

know your competitors and know yourself

 

Find out your competitors. Check out your competitors' web sites and stores. Note down their pricing, products and customer service. Study their strength and weakness. Compare every items to yours, then do better, and excel! Position your goods or service in an unique or different fashion. Strives to be better than your competitors at something that customers value. The key concept is to be special at something that is important to the customer.

 

Know how-to on pricing

 

Firstly, keep in mind that one of YOUR strength is, thanks to the internet, you can now import Rice and Canned Foods directly from us. And backed up by us, you can easily enjoy considerable markup and still sell your products at reduced prices even you start with a smaller order quantity. Sometimes, one of the critical ways to survive is on price competition. So, be smart on pricing the binoculars. There are some common pricing techniques as follows:

 

Eluating product features and customer benefits, Making up your cost,undercutting competitors' prices, asking key customers, getting feedback from salespeople,considering typical customers' "disposable income"

 

Suppose your net profit margin is 10%. If you could increase the price of your product by 10% without losing unit-sales, you would double your net profit margin to 20%. A 10% increase in price would increase your profits by 100%. Or let's say that you decrease the price of your product from $209 to $169. If that doubles sales, wouldn't that more than make up for slightly lower margins?

 

You've to figure out by yourself what is the prefect price, a perfect price that makes your Rice and Canned Foods competitive and maximize your profit at the same time.

 

You'll need the help of a freight forwarder or customs broker when you make up the total price quotation to the distributor. Not only do you include the CIF (or CNF) price and your commission-usually added together, but you need to include dock and cartage fees, the forwarders fees duty charges, packing charges, or other costs. Be especially careful when you prepare this quotation.  It certainly isn't professional to come back to the distributor with a higher quote including fees you forgot.

 

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