Once you’ve got your product in stores or online and people want to buy it, you then need to manage the process of delivering those goods to their end destination and ensuring that your customers can get hold of them. This can be a complex logistical challenge and yet another expense, but as always, there are some shortcuts to make things a little easier for you.
Freight Forwarders: One option, for instance, is simply to outsource the process of getting your goods from the manufacturer to the final point of distribution. To do this, you can use a freight forwarder, also known as a forwarder or forwarding agent, who will work with you to ensure that that happens. Their job is not actually to deliver the products – that role belongs to the carrier – but rather to act as contractors. They are supply chain management experts who will deal with carriers to help you move your products and storage and who will sometimes work with multiple companies in order to get this done. In some cases, your items might need to travel by land, air and sea and in such circumstances they can help to simplify something that’s potentially very complicated. Like all contractors, they can also save you money by taking advantage of their long-term relationships with these carriers and getting good discounts.
Customs Brokers: If you want to sell your product internationally, then you will find there are many more complications still; one of which is getting your items through customs which can involve a myriad of different laws and challenges, particularly if you have more than one type of item that you need this for. Customs brokers help with this by aiding in the clearing of goods through customs barriers. This will involve the preparation of documents, as well as the calculation of taxes and other costs and handling communication with government authorities.
Making life a little simpler for you is the fact that your customs brokers can also be contracted by your freight forwarders, again giving you one less person/organisation you need to deal with and one less thing you need to worry about. In many large organizations, the company working as the freight forwarder can also act as your customs broker.
If you’re just selling a few items online that you can ship easily enough with FedEx, then you won’t need to worry too much about customs brokers and freight forwarders. But if you hope to ship bulk orders internationally and have a range of products and resellers to consider, then it may be easier to simply outsource the problem and let someone else worry about it. In my opinion, they are a very good deal for small businesses as they help navigate a complex world of rules and documentation that can easily go awry if something is missed and, overall, the margins they add can be made up for in the discounts they receive from the carriers. Even if you do want to go it alone, it is probably worth going through a freight forwarder/customs broker once or twice to get a good understanding of how the whole process works.
If you work with Berkeley Sourcing Group, part of our service is to manage the entire process for you and work with freight forwarders and customs brokers on your behalf so that the process is even simpler.
