Indian Overseas suppliers
Exporting directly to small overseas retailers is a comparatively new phenomenon, brought about by Internet. Selling directly to small US or European retail outlets even 10 years back was an uphill task because of many hurdles like lack of information on buyers, expensive communication media, scant information on overseas consumer interest, difficulty in accepting small payments etc. Trade Fairs and Buying Agents were two major avenues for small and medium exporters.
Internet, acting like a disruptive force, brought about major changes in traditional supply chain of Exporter > Buying Agent > Importer > Distributor > Stockiest > Retailer.
Seamless, easy and inexpensive communication through continents brought exporter and retailer closer, removing many myths and wrong notions. The retailer suddenly discovered how much he/she stand to gain by importing directly because of huge price difference between merchandise of local stockiest and that of exporter's. The exporter found the middlemen disappearing and was too glad to deal directly with buyer.
The phenomenon has been aptly described by many such as Sigurd Helland in Import Your Own Products And Make Your Profit Margin Miles Wider, Online Or Off and Robert Nelson in Importing Made Easy.
Today, traditional supply chain is still in use for major chunk of exportable merchandise - but direct transaction between
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