What is Crowd Importing? | Import from India to Germany

What is Crowd Importing?

What is Crowd Importing?

Definition of Crowd Importing:

Crowd Importing is defined as the process of selectively aggregating and organizing (“curating”) crowds of credible exporters and crowds of international SME* buyers to make importing and international sourcing faster, cheaper and more reliable.

*SME: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise, where a small-sized enterprise typically employs less than 50 people and has a turnover of less than US $10M, while a medium-sized enterprise employs between 50 to 250 people and has a turnover between US$10M to US$50M.

Ekimport.com - Crowd Importing Platform:

Ekimport.com - Crowd Importing Platform:

Ekimport.com is a crowd importing platform that curates two types of crowds:

  1. Crowd of Credible Exporters:
    The crowd of credible exporters for a given product is curated specifically to quickly provide multiple competitive B2B quotes (quotations) to importers who buy in large quantities.
    Such importers can send an RFQ (Request For Quote) to a crowd of credible exporters for a given product by going to the section “CROWD QUOTES” on Ekimport.com. The importers can then receive multiple competitive B2B quotes from the crowd of credible exporters quickly.
  2. Crowd of International SME (Small and Medium-sized Enterprise) Buyers:
    The crowd of International SME buyers is curated specifically to help purchase of a product in small quantity at wholesale price and no MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) by an international SME buyer who is interested in a few samples, placing small trial orders or whose purchase size is smaller than a typical MOQ needed for receiving competitive wholesale pricing.
    The international SME buyer can join a crowd of other international SME buyers for a given product by booking a Crowd Import Deal in the section “CROWD IMPORTS” on Ekimport.com. In this way, the international SME buyer can take advantage of the crowd of other international SME buyers curated by Ekimport.com to buy in small quantities and yet be able to get low wholesale prices!

Who uses Crowd Importing and why?

Importers who buy in large quantities:
Ekimport.com - Crowd Importing Platform

Crowd Importing is ideal for importers (including their international sourcing agents and buying agents) who want to quickly receive multiple competitive B2B quotes from credible exporters from international markets.

This helps importers to discover current prices from exporters in a given country of supply. Importers can then assess competitive quotes and select the best quote in terms of product, product quality, quantity, timing / schedule, delivery term, payment term and the overall cost.

This is particularly useful for importers, when new market trends emerge and there are shocks to existing global supply chains and importers are suddenly hard pressed to find new exporters and international suppliers for sourcing raw materials as well as finished and unfinished goods and products quickly.

When such importers access the section “CROWD QUOTES” on Ekimport.com and send an RFQ (Request For Quote), there is a crowd of credible exporters eagerly waiting to prepare and send competitive quotes for fulfilling their requests.

International SME Buyers who buy in small quantities:
Ekimport.com - Crowd Importing Platform

Crowd Importing is perfect for those international SME buyers (including online sellers on marketplaces like Amazon / Etsy / Shopee etc, offline retailers, e-tailers selling via shopify / woocommerce stores as well as direct consumers) who want to buy from overseas / international markets but often would like to first try by sampling / placing small trial orders before buying in bulk.

An international SME buyer whose individual order size is not large enough to get a competitive low wholesale price, can still get it by joining a crowd of other international SME buyers of the same product. Booking a Crowd Import Deal in the section “CROWD IMPORTS” on Ekimport.com enables the international SME buyer to get a competitive low wholesale price without MOQ limitation.

An example of using “CROWD QUOTES” on Ekimport.com

Ekimport.com - Crowd Importing Platform

Background: Due to various internal country specific factors in New Zealand, there was an increase in the price of dairy products being exported to GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait. As a result, many importers from the UAE started searching for alternative sources of dairy products.

Curation of a crowd of dairy exporters from India by Ekimport.com: Based on market research and analysis of global supply chains, Ekimport.com team curated a crowd of credible Indian exporters of dairy products by reference checks and verification. These exporters were actively exporting dairy products and had the ability and readiness to take new orders and importers promptly.

Using “CROWD QUOTES”: Dairy importers from UAE came across Ekimport.com and realized that they could use “Crowd Quotes” to get multiple competitive B2B quotes from credible exporters from India quickly. They filled a detailed form called Request for Quote (RFQ) and within 24 - 48 hours started getting multiple B2B quotes from exporters in India who could meet their requirement. In this way, the dairy importers from UAE, could find their export partners in India and started working on a negotiated contract to move forward and source dairy products from India quickly.

An example of using “CROWD IMPORTS” on Ekimport.com

Ekimport.com - Crowd Importing Platform

Background: Erica runs an online store for home decor products selling to customers in the USA and Canada. So far, she has been curating and sourcing products from China and selling them on her store, but now, she would like to bring more variety to her store by trying handmade home decor products from India. She plans to add 5 new products to her online store inventory, but she wants to first buy only 10 units for market testing and quality check. But sourcing only 10 units for a product internationally is turning out to be difficult for Erica as many international wholesale suppliers or manufacturers have an MOQ requirement of at least 50 pieces.

Curation of a crowd of International SME buyers of home decor by Ekimport.com: Ekimport.com team has various products in the home decor category that are being offered to international SME buyers via Crowd Import Deals. Ekimport.com attracts worldwide buyers who want to buy in small quantities and yet get a low wholesale price by joining the Crowd Import Deals in the “CROWD IMPORTS” section on Ekimport.com. In this way, Ekimport.com curates a crowd of international SME buyers of a given product via that product-specific Crowd Import Deals.

Using “CROWD IMPORTS”: Erica came across Ekimport.com and realized that she could use “Crowd Imports” to check out existing Crowd Import Deals in the home decor category. She appreciated the fact that she could order small quantities of products at wholesale prices and that there was no MOQ to be met. This was ideal for Erica and delighted, as she was, she decided to try out not just 5, but 10 different products by joining Crowd Import Deals for each of those products. She ordered only 5 units from each Crowd Import Deal, but that was perfect for Erica to try out sourcing new designs and SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) from India for her online home decor store in the USA.

RESOURCES RELATED TO IMPORTING IN Germany

The Federal Customs Administration(German Customs)'s tasks are to collect customs duties, to monitor compliance with the restrictions in cross-border trade, etc.

It assists the risk management of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, and is responsible for inspecting food imports from the EU and other countries to Germany.

TUEV has jurisdiction of accreditation over the quality of automobiles, electronic products, etc. Representative certification conducted by TUEV is CE mark and GS mark.

The Germany-Singapore Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) is a legally-binding agreement between Germany and Singapore. Despite its small size, Singapore is one of Germany's most important international trade partners in the ASEAN area.

Japan is one of Germany's most important trading partners in Asia. The EU -Japan free trade agreement entered into force on 1 February 2019 and aims to strengthen economic and political relations between these two important trading areas.

Germany and Viet Nam regard themselves as partners in endeavours to uphold the rules-based order, respect for international law, multilateralism, global free trade and investment. Germany is Viet Nam’s most important trading partner in the EU.

The EU is one of the most important trading partners for the US. Similarly, US is Germany’s first export market outside Europe & also the market where German companies invest the most. The European Commission agreed a trade agenda with US in 2018.

Germany-Canada services trade (which includes travel & tourism) was about $6 billion in 2019. Since 2017, Canadian & German businesses and citizens have benefitted from provisional entry into force of Comprehensive Economic & Trade Agreement (CETA).

WEEE certification is required for both electrical & electronic devices. This is required for companies exporting electrical & electronic products within EU. This certification has been in effect since 2006 & can be obtained via TUEV in Germany.

REACH Certificate of Compliance is a document certifying that a product is compliant with EU REACH regulation (EC) No 1907/2006. It can be a testing report/statement issued by a third-party testing organization. It could also be a self-declaration.

In order to enter the cultural contents market in Germany, it is necessary to obtain USK certification in video and online games. USK has censored & certified all computer video games, computer games & trailers that are open to the German public.

The KBA(Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt, Federal Motor Authority) is the German authority in charge of motor vehicle regulation. They have the power to initiate and perform investigations & compel recalls. KBA is the only type-approval authority in Germany.