Global Importing, Essay Example

Importing goods into the United States is a protected activity. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, imports into the U.S. are controlled and regulated through them. They are responsible for organizing imported goods and the carriers hired to transport them. The purpose of this is to create a level of protection for the American consumer and for the environment. The regulations and guidelines for importing are there to ensure no hazardous, toxic or noxious products are brought into the country. It is also a way of detecting illegal smuggling practices.In addition, CBP’s responsibilities include detecting and investigating fraud on payments for required duties, taxes and fees of imported goods(CBP).This information is important to know when making decisions to import products, as different products are held to different guidelines when importing. For example, importing food products would mean being regulating by the Food and Drug Administration.

Chosen Product to Import

The product chosen for importing in this assignment is ladies handbags from Southeast Asia. On Alibaba.com, a Stingray skin handbag, wallet and purse is the chosen import product.

Product and Supply Company Description

The product is a set that includes a ladies handbag, wallet and purse made of Stingray skin. The product details show that the material is genuine leather and it unbranded. So this is not a popular name brand. It comes in combinations of three colors: red, black, beige and white. The supply company is Xin Yi He Co., LTD, located in Thailand. This company was established in 2001 and started exporting the same year. It has 5–10 employees with total revenues of $10–$50 million per year(Alibaba, n.d.).

The rationale for choosing this product and company is because ladies fashion is a popular business and many products are made outside of the United States, as seen in many labels. Also, Alibaba.com has thousands of items in this category, so it was an opportunity to get a good idea about the process.

Online Company Import Process

The process of searching for a product to import to the U.S. on a website like Alibaba.com is not difficult. The site has everything broken into categories and subcategories, so when somebody searches for a product, that person can then drill down to subcategories to get to what is wanted. Then, once the person finds what he/she wants, such as the ladies handbags, the site gives information on the supply company and contact information to reach someone to facilitate the transaction. The site also has chat available, if someone wanted to try and get in touch with the contact quickly.

A drawback to using this type of website to conduct trade is sometimes it may be difficult to get in touch with someone right away. The chat feature is sometimes closed. A benefit to using this type of website is being able to see how much the FOB price is per unit, which is important to project costs.

It is indeed reasonable to speculate that most trade SMEs might eventually take place on sites like Alibaba.com, because this is the age of doing business over the Internet and globalization has made it possible for companies to expand into global markets. But, there is still the risk of fraud with this type of site, because there is not a lot of transparency. There is no way to verify the information that is on the site.

The global financial crisis could create opportunities for sites like this because companies could possibly get goods cheaper, and it could create threats for this site because it could spawn more competition with copycat sites popping up.

References

Alibaba. (n.d.). Stingray skin handbag wallet and purse. Retrieved from Alibaba.com: http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Stingray-skin-handbag-wallet-and-purse_156137962.html

CBP. (n.d.). Importing into the United States. Retrieved from U.S. Customs and Border Protection: http://www.cpsc.gov//PageFiles/113831/iius.pdf