Crowd Importing is defined as the process of selectively aggregating and organizing (“curating”) crowds of credible exporters and crowds of international SME* buyers to make importing and international sourcing faster, cheaper and more reliable.
*SME: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise, where a small-sized enterprise typically employs less than 50 people and has a turnover of less than US $10M, while a medium-sized enterprise employs between 50 to 250 people and has a turnover between US$10M to US$50M.
Ekimport.com is a crowd importing platform that curates two types of crowds:
Crowd Importing is ideal for importers (including their international sourcing agents and buying agents) who want to quickly receive multiple competitive B2B quotes from credible exporters from international markets.
This helps importers to discover current prices from exporters in a given country of supply. Importers can then assess competitive quotes and select the best quote in terms of product, product quality, quantity, timing / schedule, delivery term, payment term and the overall cost.
This is particularly useful for importers, when new market trends emerge and there are shocks to existing global supply chains and importers are suddenly hard pressed to find new exporters and international suppliers for sourcing raw materials as well as finished and unfinished goods and products quickly.
When such importers access the section “CROWD QUOTES” on Ekimport.com and send an RFQ (Request For Quote), there is a crowd of credible exporters eagerly waiting to prepare and send competitive quotes for fulfilling their requests.
Crowd Importing is perfect for those international SME buyers (including online sellers on marketplaces like Amazon / Etsy / Shopee etc, offline retailers, e-tailers selling via shopify / woocommerce stores as well as direct consumers) who want to buy from overseas / international markets but often would like to first try by sampling / placing small trial orders before buying in bulk.
An international SME buyer whose individual order size is not large enough to get a competitive low wholesale price, can still get it by joining a crowd of other international SME buyers of the same product. Booking a Crowd Import Deal in the section “CROWD IMPORTS” on Ekimport.com enables the international SME buyer to get a competitive low wholesale price without MOQ limitation.
Background: Due to various internal country specific factors in New Zealand, there was an increase in the price of dairy products being exported to GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait. As a result, many importers from the UAE started searching for alternative sources of dairy products.
Curation of a crowd of dairy exporters from India by Ekimport.com: Based on market research and analysis of global supply chains, Ekimport.com team curated a crowd of credible Indian exporters of dairy products by reference checks and verification. These exporters were actively exporting dairy products and had the ability and readiness to take new orders and importers promptly.
Using “CROWD QUOTES”: Dairy importers from UAE came across Ekimport.com and realized that they could use “Crowd Quotes” to get multiple competitive B2B quotes from credible exporters from India quickly. They filled a detailed form called Request for Quote (RFQ) and within 24 - 48 hours started getting multiple B2B quotes from exporters in India who could meet their requirement. In this way, the dairy importers from UAE, could find their export partners in India and started working on a negotiated contract to move forward and source dairy products from India quickly.
Background: Erica runs an online store for home decor products selling to customers in the USA and Canada. So far, she has been curating and sourcing products from China and selling them on her store, but now, she would like to bring more variety to her store by trying handmade home decor products from India. She plans to add 5 new products to her online store inventory, but she wants to first buy only 10 units for market testing and quality check. But sourcing only 10 units for a product internationally is turning out to be difficult for Erica as many international wholesale suppliers or manufacturers have an MOQ requirement of at least 50 pieces.
Curation of a crowd of International SME buyers of home decor by Ekimport.com: Ekimport.com team has various products in the home decor category that are being offered to international SME buyers via Crowd Import Deals. Ekimport.com attracts worldwide buyers who want to buy in small quantities and yet get a low wholesale price by joining the Crowd Import Deals in the “CROWD IMPORTS” section on Ekimport.com. In this way, Ekimport.com curates a crowd of international SME buyers of a given product via that product-specific Crowd Import Deals.
Using “CROWD IMPORTS”: Erica came across Ekimport.com and realized that she could use “Crowd Imports” to check out existing Crowd Import Deals in the home decor category. She appreciated the fact that she could order small quantities of products at wholesale prices and that there was no MOQ to be met. This was ideal for Erica and delighted, as she was, she decided to try out not just 5, but 10 different products by joining Crowd Import Deals for each of those products. She ordered only 5 units from each Crowd Import Deal, but that was perfect for Erica to try out sourcing new designs and SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) from India for her online home decor store in the USA.
To facilitate commerce around the world, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) publishes a set of Incoterms, officially known as international commercial terms.
From importing exotic fashions to exporting light fixtures, the international trade business will take you all over the world and into all product niches
As eCommerce market grows, buying and selling goods online is fast. If you are a business looking to import from Asia, remember these 8 easy steps for a smooth process