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: We are new to the business of exporting granite. At present, we sell our products within India. We process gangsaw slabs, tiles, cutter slabs and monuments for the US, German, the UK and Japanese markets and also deal with all south Indian rough granite blocks. We are interested in marketing our products directly to foreign countries. Kindly provide us some suggestions about how to get buyers and how to market our products.

— R Suman through email

Since you are new to exports, the first thing I would suggest is you visit the web site http://www.smenetwork.net/marketing/exportimport.htm and go through the material available there, particularly the ‘how to export/import’ section. Second, do take membership of the Chemical and Allied Export Promotion Council (CAPEXIL), if you are not yet its member. You can get the details from http://www.capexil.com. The products you manufacture are being exported to more than 80 countries from India. There is no point spreading your resources too thin. Spend some time and zero in on select markets. You may consider Europe, the US and Saudi Arabia to begin with. Your product category is such that it is difficult to convince buyers, unless you have met them in person and they have seen your product. Though you could get in touch with some buyers after much effort through correspondence and cold calling, the cost of sampling and courier will be immense. The best way out is to plan participation in select trade fairs, at least for the first time.

Capexil regularly organises participation in trade fairs and you may go along with them. You may also avail of market development assistance (MDA) grant through them. If Capexil is not organising collective participation in the markets of your choice in the near future, you may also consider participation in the upcoming fairs once you have selected the market. You may choose fairs from these sites: http://www.biztradeshows.com/stones, http://www.worldstonex.com/en/Events.asp

Needless to say, you should be thoroughly prepared with catalogues, samples sets and a web site before participation. If you have good manufacturing facilities/latest machines, do get a CD prepared. Getting ISO 9000 and a credit and performance rating from a good international agency will also help. If you are an SSI unit, you may get financial assistance to acquire these certifications.