INTERNATIONAL MARKET ENTRY STRATEGIES SELECTING FOREIGN DISTRIBUTORS

Abstract

ABSTRACT Marketing strategies to enter international industrial markets generally proceed from exporting, to selling through distributors, to direct sales, to licensing or franchising, to strategic alliances, and finally to direct investment in a sales facility in a foreign country. These are international marketing channels. The question here is how to select a good industrial distributor in a foreign country. The manufacturer when seeking to expand into international markets must select the best possible distributor because the industrial distributor buys in bulk from the manufacturer, imports the product into the foreign country, finds and grows markets for the product and pays the manufacturer, all without serious cost or risk to the manufacturer. Given the importance of the foreign industrial distributor to the success of the manufacturer''s international marketing efforts, the selection of the optimal distributor is very important, but how to do so? Although it is tempting to simply ‘google'' distributors in a foreign country, prowess with HTML and/or other software languages, although very good, is not the same as prowess in international marketing. Googling is at best, only a first step. The best tool available to the manufacturer is the industrial trade show in a foreign country. Local industrial distributors participate in trade shows since the shows are an opportunity to showcase their products and services in order to market to their customers. The trade show then is an opportunity for the manufacturer to compare all the distributors, and their marketing and financial strengths, before making the final selection. Keywords International Channels, Industrial Sales, B2B Sales, Business to Business Sales, Distributors, International Marketing