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The idea of having an importer for the United States is a persistent dream. One or more importers for the U.S. solve the sales and customer service problem but do not guarantee repeat sales. The importer for the United States is another myth for small businesses.
The hope is to find an importer who, falling madly in love with the product we want to sell in America, starts ordering container after container and takes care of everything: distribution, advertising, promotion, payments, pre- and post-sales management, and everything else, limiting the relationship with the producing company to sending orders and paying for goods [perhaps in advance]. But considering the size of the market, a single importer certainly cannot cover the entire United States, making this an extremely unrealistic vision given the times.
In the U.S., importers have turned into distributors and expect the producer to take on many roles typical of the importer, primarily logistics and shipping. The financial crisis and increasing competition in the American market make the traditional importer's role, who buys by paying in advance and hopes to resell, too risky. End customers [retailers, chains, department stores..] have reduced the size of orders and increased their frequency, implying more expensive logistics and service management both before and after sales.
Thus, importers have transformed into distributors, a role more sales-oriented, leaving the producer with many functions that were previously delegated to the American importer: logistics and after-sales service.
The regulations for importing into America have become more complex over time, and the penalties for non-compliance are severe. Take the case of importing food products to the U.S. With the adoption of FDA standards on food production safety, referring to FSMA and FSVP, the importer, to import the food products shipped to them, must take on the role of FSVP Agent and ensure that the food products to be imported have been produced in compliance with FSMA regulations.
The penalties for non-compliance are harsh, and American food importers are beginning to shy away from them. Even in the food sector, which traditionally still reserves a significant role for importers in America, the risks associated with importing food products to the USA are increasing. We refer to the FSVP regulation, which requires importers to verify and guarantee that food products imported into America have been produced in accordance with FSMA standards for food production safety.
An obligation that did not exist a few years ago, placing non-compliance risks on the importer with financial and administrative penalties imposed by the FDA.
With the importer, you give up direct contact with the American market and building a brand image for your product and your company. The importer may place an order or several orders over time, but there is a risk [real] of losing contact with the market. Only the importer knows to whom they sell and, more importantly, why they sell [is it the price, the model, the design, the material .. ?] In practice, there is a risk of making the product appealing to the importer, and when the importer sees that they can sell it well in the U.S., they buy it from another company at a lower cost or have it produced themselves. In any case, selling to one or more importers in the U.S. means giving up on knowing the American market. You risk, as often happens, having good orders for one or two years and then nothing more.
The solution to the search for an importer for America: open a company, become your own importer, and look for one or more distributors to create the sales network. By opening your company in America, you become your own importer: a solution that offers much more operational flexibility by being able to sell directly to multiple distributors in different parts of America. You will have direct contact with the market and will know who your American customers are because distributors, when placing orders, must tell you who the customer is who buys and where to ship.
The tax system in America is more favorable, and dividends paid to the Italian parent company enjoy preferential tax treatment in Italy. Another point in favor of opening your company in America is related to the taxation of business profits, which are lower in America. This is complemented by an extremely lighter bureaucracy with fewer administrative formalities and much faster processing times. Finally, foreign dividends received by the Italian parent company are 95% tax-exempt in Italy and indeed benefit from favorable tax treatment in Italy as foreign dividends paid by a foreign-controlled company and received by the Italian parent company.
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Open a Company in America
Logistics Services
ExportUSA offers all logistics services for the United States. We have a warehouse in Ohio that we make available to our clients
https://www.exportusa.eu/logistics-services-exportusa.php