Small Business Export/Import Research

About

This guide is designed to accompany the Library's research guide on Business Research: International Marketing. Students who are importing into the U.S. should also use the guides on Business Research: Marketing and Business Research: Industry Information. To access Library databases, select "Find Articles & Databases" on the Library home page (http://www.library.sfsu.edu). Instructions for off-campus access through commercial (non-SFSU) Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are also available here.

Getting Started

To learn about the basics of exporting and importing, consult Handbooks, Dictionaries and Guides such as Basic Guide to Exporting and Importing into the U.S.

Calculating the Market for your product

Make a list of the statistics that you think would be useful to begin to estimate the demand for your product. Examples might include: imports of the product minus exports, product production figures, sales figures for the product, demographics of potential users of the product (age, sex, income, education levels, cultural norms). You would also want to consider economic factors in the importing country (currency stability, pricing trends, income growth rates).

After you have made up your list, exporters should explore Marketing Statistics and Research and Country Background sources. Importers should explore Market Statistics and Industries sources.

Exporters will probably want to begin with the National Trade Databank (NTDB) on the STAT-USA database.

If you know the country to which you are interested in exporting, look at the Country Commercial Guide for that country. It will provide you with economic and marketing statistics, give you an overview of the investment and regulatory climate, inform you of potential trade barriers, introduce you to the country's distribution system and suggest best product prospects for export. If you know the country to which you are interested in exporting and the product type you are interested in exporting, search the Market Research Reports to see if there is a report which analyzes the market for your type of product in your chosen country. If not, explore the other sources listed under Marketing Statistics and Research.

Both importers and exporters will want to look at trade statistics (import and export statistics). A good place to begin is with the USA Trade Online database. The U.S. trade data is arranged by product (commodity), and you can link products with importing or exporting countries and with U.S. customs districts. Country by commodity data is also available. Quantity and value data is provided. You may also want to look at U.N. trade data. Most trade data is arranged by classification numbers (although you can usually search by product keyword too). Manuals explaining the classification numbers are available in Government Publications and on the Internet (Schedule B for U.S. exports, Harmonized Tariff Schedule for U.S. imports, SITC Rev.3 for U.N. trade data). To locate additional marketing statistics, look at relevant sources listed on the Foreign Country Statistics research guide and search Library databases such as Business Source Premiere, Business and Industry¹, TableBase, LexisNexis Statistical² and Factiva (Dow Jones & Reuters)³. Be sure to read the "help" and "search tips" screens before you begin to search these databases. Trade and other marketing data is also available free on the Web (explore the sources listed under Internet Sites).

Researching Regulations/Planning your shipment

Explore the sources listed under Trade Regulations/Tariffs/Logistics. A good source with which both exporters and importers may wish to begin is the Exporters Encyclopedia. Much more detailed regulatory and tariff information will be available for importers since we are in the U.S. Exporters may need to contact companies and trade organizations to get more detailed information about tariff rates and other regulatory issues.

Locating Buyers, Suppliers, Trade Organizations and Competition

Explore Directories to find contact information about companies that you can sell to and buy from and to see who is your competition. For exporters, Trade Leads are also available on the NTDB on STAT-USA. Use Internet search engines⁴ to locate companies and trade contacts on the Web.