To import or source locally is a challenging decision that leather retailers, across the nation, must face.
Perhaps you’re asking the question, “Why should US leather retailers consider imports?”
You certainly aren’t alone in wondering this. There are both opportunities and challenges when it comes to importing leather goods. Let’s examine both, beginning with the opportunities.
Opportunities of Importing Leather Goods to the US
The largest, and most obvious, benefit of importing goods to the US is the opportunity for higher margins.
You’re in business to make money. Higher margins on products means higher profitability and more opportunities for growth, expansion, and that lamborghini you’ve been eyeballing (kidding…kind of).
The US doesn’t offer competitive price points for leather goods, when compared with China, India, or even Italy.
Another key benefit of importing leather goods is the larger pool of products and price points. While the US market is limited to specific leather goods, products, and price points (as we mentioned above), the international market offers significantly more diversity. You can find the exact product and price point you want when searching international markets with the option to import.
Finally, importing leather goods from International manufacturers provides outside revenue to that country, supporting the overall global economy.
Now, let’s move onto the challenges.
Challenges of Importing Leather Goods to the US
We’ve all heard horror stories of importing goods from China. Large batches of products arrive completely wrong and unusable; suddenly, the manufacturer stops responding and the buyer is out thousands of dollars.
It’s not a situation any business owner wants to be in.
Thus, the biggest challenge of importing goods to the US is finding a reputable supplier.
In addition, buyers face the dilemma of uncertainty in regards to regulations, rules, paperwork, and additional fees such as tariffs and freight costs. It’s a lot to navigate and can be challenging to piece together various resources to get clear, specific answers about these processes.
There are other challenges including inability to easily visit the manufacturer, time differences, product arrival delays, quality standards being different between the buyer and the supplier, and the inability to ensure the product and supplier are authentic and quality.
Ultimately, all of these challenges stem from questionable suppliers and lack of understanding the regulations, rules, and potential fees. .
So, you want higher margins, increased profitability, and more diverse options. But, you’re not sure how to proceed with finding the perfect supplier to import your products or how to navigate the regulations and paperwork.
How TradeLeaves Can Help
TradeLeaves.com provides a platform to easily find and communicate with reputable international suppliers, largely from India.
TradeLeaves features suppliers that provide a variety of leather goods including handbags, shoes, jackets, belts, wallets, accessories, and leather hides.
The listings provide pertinent supplier and product information, including upfront delivery time, specs, and competitive pricing.
Furthermore, TradeLeaves helps buyers navigate the otherwise intimidating paperwork, regulations, fees, and rules. You can import confidentiality, knowing you’re following the proper procedures and everything is out in the open.
Importing leather goods no longer has to be challenging, sorting through endless suppliers and hoping you make the right decisions in finding someone reputable.
With TradeLeaves, you can find several verified suppliers, be walked through the regulations process, and begin importing, and increasing your profitability, immediately.
Why should US leather retailers consider imports?
Simply put, the opportunity to increase profitability and positively impact the global economy makes choosing imports an easy decision. This, paired with a company, like TradeLeaves, that provides easy access to verified leather goods suppliers and knowledge on how to proceed, leaves little to no reason to continue losing money and options on US leather.
