Celebrate #WorldTradeWeek2019 at The International Trade Awards Breakfast & Expo, May 13, 8:30-11 AM, Baruch College/CUNY, New York City.

The Awards Breakfast offers a dynamic array of networking opportunities with 400+ NYC-based foreign trade commissioners, bi-lateral Chambers, Consul Generals & international trade organizations there to share knowledge, resources and ideas to facilitate small business success internationally.

WebPort Global & Mediterranean Diet Roundtable Announce Partnership at Mediterranean Agro Food Products Exhibition

BOSTON, March 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- WebPort Global, an online networking and data resource for the global trade ecosystem and Mediterranean Diet Roundtable (MDR) recently announced a new partnership at Mercato Mediterraneo, a major industry trade showcase.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/webport-global--mediterranean-diet-roundtable-announce-partnership-at-mediterranean-agro-food-products-exhibition-300816568.html

One of the biggest costs of and impediments to more cross-border trade is the paperwork needs of the freight forward and customs broker industry. One problem is a lot of shipments are big and heavy. Then there’s the paperwork. A Netherlands shipping company said sending a container of avocados from India to Antwerp requires 200 communications involving 30 separate parties. That adds a lot to the cost of guacamole.

Shippers and shoppers used to the speed of e-commerce deliveries—some can be made in hours if the goods are stored locally—will be chagrined by the unpredictability of sea shipments and floored by the costs of airfreight. In some markets, it takes three times longer and costs four times more to send a 150-pound item by air than to buy an airline ticket for a person weighing the same amount.

The impact of digitizing all the paper could be huge, starting with the cost of transportation. This savings should stimulate more trade and economic growth. Some economists believe that full digitization in Asia, for example, could increase the region’s exports by $257 billion a year, reducing transport times by 44% and costs by 31%. Some experts think these reductions will have more of an impact than reducing the region’s remaining tariffs. Succeed at both and a bigger trade boost is possible. If tariffs go up, as they are in the U.S., efficiencies on the logistics
side can help keep total trade costs in some sort of balance.

Trade and the documents needed to facilitate it require many moving parts. Some goods need inspections before they leave port; others when they arrive at their destination. Combatting terrorism involves other kinds of inspections. Some goods require licenses. Certain countries impose extra paperwork burdens and corresponding delays.

Technophobes beware

Freight forwarders and customs brokers, sometimes owned by the same company and sometimes separate, make good money off the arrangements. They may account for a quarter of the logistics’ industry output, or close to a $1 trillion a year. They’ve been among the most technophobic, still relying on faxes and telephones. The bills of lading used in shipping are mainly still in paper form, little changed from the documents merchants issued in medieval Europe.

Banks, insurers and governments are starting to digitize the processes; and computers and Big Data engaged to do the heavy lifting. The Global Trade Connectivity Network will launch later this year as a joint venture between Hong Kong and Singapore, digitizing trade between both places. The project is partly funded by several Chinese banks, raising hopes that the mainland will join the paperless trend. Since China produces a seventh of the world’s exports, its participation would encourage other countries to do the same. The U.S. is also headed in this direction, starting with the single window concept begun during the Obama administration. The UN has been advocating a similar approach, especially in the developing world, since 2011. https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tradfa_e/case_studies_e/escwa_e.pdf

The WTO is pushing single window as part of its trade facilitation initiative, which provides technical assistance to countries that request it. Many countries, especially in Africa, don’t use computers to store data at ports of entry and exit, and inefficiencies including corruption are rife.

Logistics companies such as UPS, FedEx and DHL have morphed into technology companies and have pushed the countries they do business in to embrace the digital revolution. But without countries’ full participation, the current system will remain a hybrid of digits and papers. The sooner we all commit to a digital future, the faster we’ll get there.

When you think of Italy, what comes to mind? Art? The Colosseum? Romance? Opera?

Italy has contributed significantly to all forms of culture, but if you’re like most of us, the first answer on your lips will be food. Or wine. Or both.

And, if you treasure a memory of a special night in Rome, Firenze, or Venice, and a sumptuous meal accompanied by a full-bodied Valpolicella or Pinot Grigio, chances are good that at least some of the elements for that exquisite evening arrived via wtcfoodemporium.com, the world’s largest online business-to-business marketplace for Italian food and wine.

“Over 13,000 products from all the Italian regions are available on the platform,” says Leonardo Monniello, who manages the site for the World Trade Center Trieste. “In other traditional places where restaurant owners and food managers can buy Italian products, it is almost impossible to find a selection of high end products ‘100 percent made in Italy’ as varied as in our food and beverage portal.”

In addition to requiring that all ingredients are sourced from Italy, says Monniello, companies may only be represented on the site if they are attentive to tradition. These are the culinary artisans of their respective regions; most do not distribute through mass marketing or retail chains.

Here, buyers can find handmade pastas, scrumptious desserts, delicate virgin olive oils, regional wines, sauces, pesto, fresh fish, meats, cheeses, cold cuts—virtually every taste and ingredient associated with Italian cuisine, all offered at reasonable costs.  

Typical buyers from the site include restaurant and bar owners; gourmet shops and delicatessens; and hotel and club food managers; as well as other specialty retailers. Much of the site’s revenue comes from B2C within Italy—about €1million per year—but thanks in part to promotions via the global network of World Trade Centers, businesses in other countries have begun discovering and using the emporium, especially in the Netherlands and Switzerland. Access is free of charge to registered business owners.

Most packaged foods can be shipped around the world, but the emporium also makes it possible to import perishables to other European countries. “Products are delivered in a specific packaging which keeps them fresh.”

Thanks to its advanced warehouse management system, “The order is immediately executed.  Processing time, then, is very fast – about one working day in European countries.”

Delivery time, of course, depends on the distance between the countries. To get from Italy to Twente, in the Netherlands typically takes a day or two.

We asked Monniello what kinds of opportunities WebPort Global members might find to partner with wtcfoodemporium.com. “Worldwide importers have free access to the food and beverage portal and can place orders directly online,” he said.

Where there are import restrictions, “It can represent a business opportunity for foreign companies to assist Italian producers to obtain the requested certifications.”

Through the World Trade Center Trieste, the emporium has begun to partner with other World Trade Centers to increase visibility and sales.

Monniello says that through World Trade Center partnerships, they are increasing promotions in the US where they expect to begin exporting in 2018, followed by Arabic Gulf countries.

Along with your Webport Global membership, having a website that includes Search Engine Optimization (SEO) features is an important component of your sales channels strategy for increasing exports.  You can start with your company site by following a checklist of simple steps that will make your site easier to find and more likely to facilitate a sale.  You can easily and inexpensively transform your marketing site into a transactional site that can be integrated with large and specialized e-marketplaces and social media channels.

Once you’ve created your website, you need to help search engines find it on the Internet. This process is called Search Engine Optimization, or S-E-O. Most people create a website for their business before adding an online store to the site. The website is an important first step because it helps create your brand, which may not exist in the countries you’re targeting.

Keep in mind some simple but important things to enhance SEO.  They are relevant for B2C, or business to consumer transactions, but also work for B2B, or business to business promotions and sales.  Here are a few tips.

- Make it easy for visitors the visitors to find what they are looking for. Use simple declarative sentences, keeping in mind that your international visitors may not be fluent in English.

- Keep the site navigation simple. The last thing you want is for visitors, including search robots, to get lost on your site.

- Consider welcoming the international visitor prominently and telling them that you ship internationally.  If you are targeting customers from specific countries mention them.

- If your products qualify under existing free trade agreements, share that information with buyers, indicating that they may save money by paying lower or no duties on qualifying U.S.-made products.

- Make sure to emphasize when products are made in the U.S., and other countries with reputations for high quality, because for many international buyers this fact is important to their purchase decision.

- Indicate that you are delighted to receive inquiries and orders from wholesalers and distributors, as it’s usually more profitable to sell pallets and containers than selling and shipping one item at a time.

- One important element on your site is your contact information. All search engines look for phone numbers and e-mail addresses. 

- Describe your product in detail and include lots of product photos, and even video, as many international buyers prefer a lot of information. Spend a little money on getting top quality photos.

- Properly tagged, the photos you take can be found more easily on Google Image searches—another way to attract international buyers to your site.  And the more time they spend there, the higher the site will go on search engine rankings.

- Consider including original content, such as a brief company history, testimonials from buyers and even a blog.  Write in simple, concise sentences.  If you translate product information or other text, make sure the translation is done by a native speaker.

- Rename your website URLs, or individual pages from a string of characters to a name that describes what the visitor is looking for, such as the description of your company.

- Add metatag descriptions to each of the pages on your site; this helps search engines more easily find your site.

- Use existing free online tools to see where visitors are coming from, what they’re looking at, and what they’re doing.  This data can help you improve the site to reduce abandoned shopping carts and to more effectively promote the site.

Now you’re ready to take and fulfill orders and to accept payment.  You can easily add a digital store to your now global e-commerce website.

Stores are available from many online vendors with different features and price points.  Many stores integrate seamlessly with e-commerce and social media platforms, themselves now e-commerce platforms—with you controlling and improving a bigger part of the customer experience.

There are a few inexpensive things you can do to start or increase your international sales.  The first is to realize the benefits of going global.  They range from growing your business, lessening dependence on your home market, and getting ideas on how to improve your products by incorporating what you learn from doing business in new markets.  Any one of these accomplishments is worth the effort, but often all three of them are achievable—even in the midst of uncertainty over where the global trading system is headed.

The second action is taking fuller advantage of the growing number of e-commerce channels available to even the smallest business.  The channels have multiplied in part to meet the demand of a growing global middle class that can afford imported goods.  The creation of these two plus billion consumers is one of the most important accomplishments of globalization.  That it has come about largely because of the free trade policies created post World War II should be a reminder to us all that these policies need to continue if the economic benefits are to continue.

Using just one e-commerce marketplace is usually insufficient to achieve your business expansion goals.  Webport Global is an excellent niche marketplace.  It’s growing by adding select members who are carefully vetted and represent countries with good growth potential.  Smaller marketplaces can more easily insure that fake products and bad actors are kept out.  Service provider partners introduce members to payment and other kinds of services that make transacting business easier and more secure.  Customer service is personal and does not involve filling out online forms or talking to people in distant call centers, reading from scripts.

The larger marketplaces have advantages and should be part of the mix.  These platforms have great technology and massive numbers of buyers and sellers.  In the case of one such platform, it struggles with fake products and is regularly dinged by its own government and other regulators.  Special vigilance is needed to monitor these big marketplaces to make sure your intellectual property is protected.

Leverage your website

Your own website is often an excellent means of promoting your products to foreign buyers.  Here’s your chance to salt key works throughout the website text to help search engines find your site.  Additional proactive marketing can be done by learning how to use tools, such as Google key words.  For a budget of any size you can direct some ads at specific markets of interest where your ad pops up while buyers are searching for something that complements what you’re selling.  You only pay for ads that people click on.  These clicks can provide useful data for understanding how your campaigns are working and how you might change them to increase clicks and sales.

You can, of course, add a payment feature to your site and process orders yourself, or hire someone to do it for you.  A mix of e-commerce marketplaces, your website, and a store on one or more social media platforms, and suddenly you’ve got worldwide presence for very little cash outlay. That’s strategic exporting, rather than the passive sort where you wait for the buyer to find you.

The last strategic step to greater sales and profits is to work with the commercial officers at your embassies in the countries you’d like to enter or expand in.  You can certainly find private companies to provide these services, but they’ll cost serious money.  The advantage of your government is that many services are free or sold on a cost recovery basis.  Because they are the government, they have sources of information, contacts and a reputation as the most honest among honest brokers. Every year they help help generate billions of dollars in sales for the companies they assist, and they make a special effort to help smaller companies who are new to the world of trade.

Yes, there’s a good bit of turbulence in the world economy and in the politics of individual countries.  But there are proven ways to weather the storm and meet your business development goals.

New Zealand has a clear shot at its target of $2 billion in wine exports by 2020, reports the New Zealand Winegrowers industry association, with New Zealand wine gaining U.S. market share, surpassing $500 million for the first time in April.

Last year, New Zealand vintners edged out Australia’s for the first time in value of shipments bound for the States. New Zealand vintners’ growth strategy has been to compete in pricier premium categories. At the same time, wine imports are trending up-market in the U.S., which still buys more wine by volume from Australia.

A similar dynamic is at work in U.S. distilled spirits exports. Bourbon, the perennial top U.S. export ranked by volume and value, recently ceded first ranking by value of exports to premium brandy in 2016. [See Whiskies Top Tipple in U.S. Trade in Distilled Spirits.]

Our trade data captures the seesawing competition between New Zealand and Australia in the U.S. imported wine market:

Note that Rabobank reported a revival in Australian wine prices in fourth-quarter 2016. This may underlie Australia’s lead over New Zealand in first-quarter 2017 FOB US$ value of U.S. wine imports.

Our bill-of-lading U.S. import data yields market intelligence on the parties to this trade, including carriers, importers and, as shown here, shippers of wine imports from New Zealand:

To see more data tracking New Zealand wine gaining U.S. market share – including the bill-of-lading on shipments arriving in U.S. ports as recently as yesterday – just ask us.

Utilizing a new business tool, Web Port Global, many in the wine industry are gaining access to a growing number of international expansion opportunities.

 WebPort Global provides its members with valuable networking connections around the globe, helping them open new doors and expand their business.

 WebPort Global’s members include a wide range of manufacturing, shipping, marketing, distribution and sales organizations around the Globe that are looking to help US business expand into international markets.

 In addition, users will find a number of listings from Spanish and Italian wine distributors looking for international exporting partners.

 “The wine industry is evolving. new and growing businesses are looking for opportunities. Our global presence helps us make these accessible to our users”, said WebPort Global President, Maureen Pace. 

 WebPort Global is the fastest, most effective and most economical way to participate in global trade for a Small and Medium Enterprise and is looking forward to helping more brands expand in 2013.  To learn more please visit www.webportglobal.com