How to become an exporter?
Finding Customers
Finding customers was very difficult for exporter companies in the period when the internet was not used widely. Companies used fairs to promote their products to international markets, and the weakness of alternative channels to fairs made it obligatory for companies to participate in fairs. If you want to export your product, the fastest way to do this is through fair participation. Fortunately, we have come to a period where the internet has reached our pocket and it has become as easy for companies to import and export as well as trade with domestic companies. This brought with it a number of difficulties such as information pollution and fraud. Now a new need has arisen: using the internet in a qualified manner. In our previous “How to Export” articles, we talked about pre-action studies from the establishment stage to determining the target market and strategy. At this stage, let's see how we can find our potential customers that we will contact to sell our product on the web.
Depending on the quality of the product you produce, your target audience also varies. For example, if you are producing finished products, your target will mostly be wholesalers, importers and distributors. However, if you are producing intermediate goods and spare parts, you should target manufacturers for this as well.
It is more difficult to find importer companies than to find producer companies. Since states encourage sellers rather than buyers in their own countries, they promote a lot in their own media organs. For example, to find Turkish manufacturer and exporter for an importer who wants to make purchases from Turkey is very easy. Local firms rooms at TOBB's site to find the records and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey in the general section "Commerce and Industry", "Chamber of Commerce", "Chamber," you'll reach the bound registered businesses. If firms to find Exporters Turkey Exporters Assembly reached the 61 exporters' unions gathered on the roof of each association's website you can find information from said product exporting company information.
Many states make similar applications to introduce their producers to the world. Before starting a detailed research, visiting the official websites of the country you are interested in will save you time. In addition, you can request the importer information of the relevant country by using the "Consult the Commercial Counselor" application of the Ministry of Commerce. Since other countries are doing similar studies, you can think of yourself as the producer of that country. For example, the Netherlands, France provides support information, such as Turkey for their company. All you will do is to scan the official commercial information sources of the relevant country using translator in your browser.
B2B sites, Directories and Associations
Of course, it is not possible to fit commercial information sources below. However, it is now possible to find platforms that appeal to your product in the country you are targeting with a few web browsing. Remember that here we are looking for guides who share company information, not company information. Here are some of them:
https://www.turkishexporter.net/
https://www.zawya.com/mena/en/companies/
http://www.grocerdirectory.co.uk/
https://www.cci.by/en/listOfTpp
http://www.infocompanies.com/eindex.php
https://www.yell.ge/index.php?lan=2
http://www.german-business-directory.com/
http://www.polishfirms.info/katalog/polonia
https://www.edb.sk/index.php?Lang=en
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house