Guide on Exporting to Europe [Part 3]

In the previous article, we have clearly understood how exporting to Europe works, followed by the rules and regulations that sellers must understand when exporting goods into the European market. Lastly, we have also gone through the ways to identify your European market and its segments.

Step 7: Who are your buyers in the European market?

After you have identified your market segments, the next thing to do is you will need to find out who your target buyers are in the European market; where and how to approach them. 

Below are examples of various market players you can find in a market. 

• Importers, wholesalers and distributors: people who import your goods to resell them in the market, and provide warehousing. 

• Manufacturers and processors: people who use your product as input for their products.

• Retailers: people who sell to the consumers but can also act as importers, although a less common indirect trade than those above.

Step 8: Where can you find your potential buyers?

You will need to know what kinds of available channels can help you connect and reach them easily. 

1. Website

A website is what you need to make sure your buyer can find you online. A good website is needed in order to increase your online presence. A business website often provides a good first impression a buyer gets from your business. Your website should be clean and easy to understand with quality product photos, fast loading speed and a keywords-optimized search engine.

2. E-Commerce Platform

Businesses nowadays are moving their business onto an eCommerce platform. Below are some platforms available that can help you reach your global buyers easily.

Alibaba.com is the world’s largest B2B eCommerce platform with 10+ million global-ready buyers in 200+ countries from 40+ different industries and 5,900+ product categories. There are more than 300,000 active inquiries per day on this platform. If you are interested in discovering more about this B2B eCommerce platform, click here.

3. Business Matchmaking Platform

As for business matchmaking platforms, the China Construction Bank (CCB) Business Matchmaking platform might be the right platform for you! The CCB Matchmaking platform consists of 568,500+ authenticated users globally. Besides, it has 52,900+ successful business matchmaking cases in its history.

For more information, click here.

4. Social Media

Social media allows you to connect with businesses for different purposes. For example, social networks, such as LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook, can help you connect with buyers to increase brand awareness, educate potential buyers or even interact with them.

If you are interested to know more about how social media can help grow your business into the overseas market, click here.

Step 9: How do you approach a buyer?

You would need to show your buyers that you also understand their businesses, not only provide them with an offer. You need to know what they need from you! 

However, you might be wondering about how to provide your buyers with the right product at the right time when they need it. Let us walk you through what to do now!

When you subscribe to Alibaba.com, there is a feature in the eCommerce platform named Request for Quotation (RFQ). RFQ allows you to quote buyers that are interested in your products. You only need to place your product name into the search bar, and buyers looking for your products will eventually show up. Would you like to know how Alibaba.com RFQ can help you get more potential leads to your business? Click here.

Besides, the price will be the most vital part of your offer and the part of what a buyer is interested in, but it is not the only concern a buyer has. To gain the trust and relationship from buyers, you should also provide your product sample to potential buyers before they purchase your products in bulk.

To recap …

Identifying who your target buyers are in terms of their business nature is very important. Furthermore, Alibaba.com and China Construction Bank are the platforms available in helping Malaysian SMEs to reach global buyers easily. To approach potential buyers, you may need to do some research to find out whether your products fit the market, your pricing attracts buyers or what are the things you should offer to build a long-term relationship with your buyers.