Import consultant

If you want to get in this business there are several options to get your company started. You may decide to start a retail shop or you may choose to create an import/distribution company which works exclusively with a portfolio of brands and represent them in a country.

If you opt for the latter you will need to be clear about what you want to do, if you want to focus on a specific thing or want to do a bit of everything. There are thousands of brands in the market but also there are several differentiated product categories, even sectors and quality ranges. First, it is ideal to decide what level to start with. Top quality, custom, hand-made, medium range, low range, entry level, etc. Then one must decide if the business will focus on importation of bicycles, components, accessories or equipment. The way to work with these different products is to ensure that differentiated marketing procedures are catered for.
A bike importation company has nothing to do with a company which imports kit or clothes items. For starters, the storage space needed is very different, both in dimensions and characteristics, and the same with customs duties. Even the target clients are not the same and the products are in separate parts of a trade show.

Once you have decided on these concepts and know what you will focus on, it’s time to start looking for brands. It is not an easy task because even if there are many brands in the market, the most attractive and profitable ones are usually taken already, so one must be smart, have good intuition and more importantly, a lot of experience so as to know which brand is the most convenient and its possibilities for growth.

Everybody makes mistakes, but those with more experience make fewer mistakes, and therefore the success rate is greater.





Some companies start in this industry with a solid financial base and make the wrong decision of going after brands which are already imported or distributed by other companies. Some of them have already done a lot of work to promote the product in a country and are starting to see the benefits of such hard work. Do you want to arrive and collect the profits from what others have worked on for years just because you can make a better offer to the brand headquarters? Don’t be arrogant, don’t be conceited, the first and most important thing in a business is professional ethics, and even more so when one is new in the area. If you do that, the fellow professionals won’t receive you very happily. Think about one more thing: how would you feel if another company takes from you a product you have been developing, made profitable with a lot of effort, and you are now reaping the benefits? You would get angry, wouldn’t you? Then don’t try to use such devious methods which could be also used against you at a later date. If you are formal, serious, ethical, your company will be welcome and respected by the others in the business. You must earn your place in the market, but with good practices and respecting the basic rules of business, a non-aggression pact between the companies in this same sector.



A very different situation would be if the company considers their current distributor is not doing a good job. In that case, it might be the brand mother company who gets in touch with you to take over the promotion and sales in a particular region. That is something else, but still it would be good to have the corresponding conversation with the current distributor. This will show that you haven’t been going behind their backs in a treacherous way, and you might come to an agreement to buy their remaining stock at a good price, etc. In the end it will be the brand who decides if they stay or you start, and it is better to do it in the most ethical way as possible, with everybody happy and open to other agreements.


  We help you choose products according to your corporate philosophy and business model.

  We give you advice in everything regarding commercial strategies to start on a good foot.

  We put our contact network at your disposal.

  We negotiate brand distribution transfers and stock sales with other importers or distributors.