Steps To Import Goods From China
Firstly: You need to start by scouting for the type of goods you want to import. Be diligent about it and balance your decision with proper reasoning. You have to make the list of products you think that will sell in Nigeria, I mean products that are not common in the market or products that are common but still hot cake.
Keypoint – China Laptops, Pads, Mobile phones, Children toys of all kinds, and Shoes are known to sell very well in Nigeria. While this is not a recommendation by me, you can as well look into that direction and see if it fits into your desired goods for importation.
Secondly: Having isolated some of the goods you think can do well in the market in Nigeria and decided on the particular one you want to import, the second step is to make a selection of merchants that deals with those goods in China. You don’t have to travel to China as the case may be except you have much amount of money to foot the travel bill. All you need to do is to make use of some of the China popular merchant websites such as Alibaba.com.
Keypoint – It’s easy to identify trusted merchants on a website like Alibaba.com due to the stringent security procedures they employ in certifying their trusted merchants. So, you don’t have to be afraid of contacting a merchant online, it is very safe and secure to some reasonable extend. But that doesn’t mean the system is infallible, you still need to take serious precaution especially if big amount is involved.
Thirdly: Start negotiation with the merchants to find out whose terms of contract will be most suitable to you. There are some important things you’d have to agree upon apart from the price of the goods. You will have to discuss and agree on method of shipment and mode of payment.
The Guideline For Importation In Nigeria
Though the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) have made several claims in the past of how they have changed the face of port operation in Nigeria, I can assure you that things are still the same if not worst over the past eight years. Therefore, you have to prepare for the long list of unnecessary huddles and bureaucratic bottle neck.
But if the goods you are importing is a product in high demand, you can be sure of making your money in millions to cover all the hardship you went through. The good news is that importing from China isn’t as hard and costly as importing from other countries in Europe and America.
Below is a vital information about importation procedure in Nigeria. Please, share your opinion below after reading and let’s take the discussion further.
Step 1: Understand why you have chose to import goods from China to Nigeria: This might sound obvious. The first thing that you as a Nigerian Entrepreneur must be clear about is the reason why you are stepping into the importation business. If you plan to start a profitable business in Nigeria by importing items to sell then you must carry out detailed market research about what goods can be easily marketed and sold in your area.
To understand your market, you need to carry out market research and develop a marketing strategy. For instance, you can start by ordering small quantities for testing purposes. By doing this, you can check the quality of the products and show samples to potential customers.
Step 2: How to Decide What Goods to Import from China to Nigeria: Select your niche with careful research. Stay focused and import goods that have huge potential of being sold in Nigeria. So being focused and clear about why you want to import goods is the main understanding required at the beginning. Next you must decide on your niche, which will determine what goods you will import. As a starting point the areas I have successfully targeted are:
Accessories – you can enjoy markups of 100% to 1,000% on accessories, and customers are much less price-sensitive about them.
Goods that Satisfy a Passion or Problem – It’s amazing how much money passionate hobbyists will spend.
Step 3: What Should I import from China to Nigeria?: Hopefully at this point you have decided on your niche. You can be more specific and filter your list of potential goods even further by using the points below.
Keep them small and lightweight:
It’s always better to import small and lightweight products. Try to restrict yourself to small items. If you decide to import low value items that are heavy, you will find that your shipping costs will eat away at your profit, so be careful.
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