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Find Foreign Buyers

Proven methods to find and connect with distributors, importers, wholesale buyers, and retail chains in your target markets. 41 articles.

Finding foreign buyers is rarely a discovery problem. The importers and retail chains in your category are public knowledge — you can list most of them in an afternoon. The hard parts are deciding which type of buyer fits your product and volume, identifying the one person inside that company who owns your category, and reaching them with something specific enough to be worth a reply.

A distributor buys your pallet and sells it on, which costs margin but buys you local coverage. Selling a retail chain directly protects margin but means meeting their supplier requirements, their audits and their range-review calendar. Private label pays for capacity, not for your brand. Those are three different businesses, and the guides here treat them separately.

They also cover the part most exporters get wrong: the title of the person who decides. A category manager, an import manager and a purchasing director look interchangeable from outside and are not.

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