How to Use Import and Export Data to Shape Your Business Plans?

Import/export data can offer companies the value-added tools they need to find new markets, stay ahead of competitors, predict demand, optimize the supply chain and manage the chaos of international trade.

Find out the number of foreign imports by country to find markets that import your product(s). Put other, complementary products on there as well to get a bigger reach.

Table of Contents

Market Trends

Market analysis is part and parcel of doing business successfully. In today’s data-driven society, all the information necessary for this sort of research is at your fingertips – from customer reviews to import/export statistics.

Trade in import/export trade data have a lot of useful data for businesses like product information, HS code, shipping information, names and countries of the deals, etc. Companies are then able to discover new markets, track competitors better, predict demand better, and optimize the supply chain with such data.

When you review your import/export data carefully, you’ll also be able to identify the new consumer demand patterns and can therefore anticipate consumer change trends and make changes to your business plan accordingly. An increase in demand for home automation products, for example, could be a sign that home electronics will be the next trend in mainstream consumers.

Supply Chain Efficiency

Not only is efficiency of supply chain critical for cost reduction and margin enhancement, it is also important for accommodating customer demand and delivery schedules. Successful supply chains optimize utilization from raw materials to final products shipping out to end users – usually through relationships with suppliers and partners such as 3PL (3PL) companies.

Import/export data offers business owners an invaluable asset to find suppliers and buyers and build relationships for profitability and expansion. Tracking shipments through borders allows companies to react quickly to regulatory change or transit delays before it slows business down, adapt to market dynamics, anticipate consumer demand and maintain business continuity. This all helps import/export data to be a must have tool for any business that competes in the world markets, and accessing data via an online data platform is quick and easy.

Competitive Intelligence

For most companies, CI is the foundation of business performance and survival. CI — Gathering and studying data about competitors to know their methods, weaknesses, positioning, and tactics they have employed against them. If applied in the right manner it can be utilized by companies to come up with marketing campaigns, optimise product roadmaps, locate alliances or predict market dynamics more precisely.

When conducting competitor research, it is essential to establish an end goal so that you know where to put effort and gather pertinent data that will help reach business objectives. What’s more, with a clear objective, you have a good basis for choosing which competitors to work with so that you can determine who has the most significance to your business.

With import and export data you can learn much about what your competitors do in the market. Look at HS codes, quantities, and money value for outbound sold goods from each competitor to know their trading habits and prospects. Also, by doing this you can find other companies who import the same products as yours to discover buyers for those products and in turn form connections.

Strategic Planning

We have to take action with the help of data in the fast paced market environment for businesses to succeed and SME’s to get access to the global markets.

In the middle of any successful strategic planning process is a consideration of your external environment – market trends, industry, customer data, competitive landscape etc. – to devise a plan that aligns with your organisational vision and objectives.

The import and export information is great for the analysis. In import data you can find out which countries are importer of your product(s), as well as identify potential customers. Moreover, transportation time and logistics charges of goods between the regions can be estimated for optimizing the supply chains and saving procurement expenses. Plan your strategy over time and then revisit it as information comes along.