Page 19 - Food & Drink Business Magazine September 2018

FOOD EXPORT
increase demand for convenience health foods.
India is also coming up in conversation a lot, and while all markets require homework and preparation, India will require more than most.
CHOOSING CHINA
In China, while we continue to see a lot of interest for Australian products, the trick is knowing whether the leads are genuine, and the opportunities described are real.
When I speak with leading food and beverage producers, I hear real life examples of this. SalDoce Fine Foods director of marketing and product development Cristina Talacko, for example, had an exclusivity agreement in China, which meantthecompanywasstuck
with a buyer that was not moving their product from the shelf. They were instead demanding promotions, and marketing fees escalated. Cristina now advises companies to be cautions when choosing a business partner in China.
UNTAPPED RESOURCE
Suppliers often try to undertake their export journey independently, without knowing that many Australian exporters are willing to share and support each other.
There is also plenty of support from industry stakeholders, from across all government levels and associations, and this is something many suppliers are not yet fully aware of.
I recently caught up with Craig Smith, who is the head of InternationalAsiaatGourmet
Gardens, and he told me that while he took the necessary step of undertaking desktop research, he also consulted with multiple agencies to get feedback to understand the markets the company wanted to enter. And if this was insufficient, he hired experts within each of those markets.
Ultimately, the art of growing your export business comes down to obtaining relevant and focused information, insights from markets and peers, and connecting with pre-qualified leads.
Financially, this may require a small investment upfront, but may well save the high cost of travelling down the wrong path with the wrong people, and will accelerate export growth and returns by taking the right approachfromtheget-go. ✷
✷ FACT FINDING LESSONS LEARNED
In the past year consulting with food and agribusinesses, we have found that two key challenges impede export development. One is having the right information, which is succinct and targeted. The other is having the right connections, both from a learning and a partner perspective.
There are many information- based resources out there that can provide qualitative data, trends, and high-level overviews of markets. It’s rare, however, to find all three in one report, and our experience shows that for many SMEs, this is exactly what they need, given
that the majority are time and resource-poor.
With regard to connections, there are many buyers across all export channels who can provide excellent insights into their markets and the suppliers’ categories in particular. But these buyers may not necessarily be the ones you will ultimately do business with.
There are other buyers also across all channels that are targets for Australian suppliers. For these, it is important to come into the meetings pitch-ready. From our experience, suppliers don’t differentiate between the two types of connections, and often look to do business with all buyers, adopting more of a ‘trading’ mentality than a ‘learn-market-promote’ approach.
It is always most effective to first understand who you’re working with and what it is you’re doing, before hurrying to do business.
The best approach is to learn from informational reports and people.
✷ ABOUTTHEAUTHOR
Najib Lawand is the director of Export Connect. He has 20 years’ experience in the food and beverage industry, across the private and public sector. He can be contacted at najib@exportconnect.com.au or +61 448054234.
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