It is important to know what types of import and export businesses there are out there. While it’s obvious that there are import businesses and export businesses, there are a wide variety of different variations on this same basic theme. We already talked about the EMC or Export Management Company. Now we are going to talk about the ETC or Export Trading Company and the Import / Export Merchant Company.
Export Trading Company
Rather than having merchandise to sell and concentrating all of its energies on seeking out buyers the way that an EMC would, the purpose of an Export Trading Company or ETC is to attack from the other side. This type of company identifies the things that foreign buyers are interested in spending money, and then hunts down domestic sources that are willing to do the exporting. These types of companies may take title on the goods, though sometimes they may just work on a per-commission basis.
Import / Export Merchant Company
This is an international entrepreneur type of company that sort of works more as a free agent than a typical business or company. An import and export merchant does not have a specific client base, and he or she will not typically specialize in any specific line of products or industry. Instead, an import and export merchant is going to purchase goods directly from both domestic and foreign manufacturers, and then he or she will pack them, ship them and resell them all on their own. What this means is that an Import / Export Merchant Company is going to assume not only all of the risk, but all of the profit as well. This can be a beneficial type of business for some people, but is not idea for everyone and it has a lot to do with how much risk you are willing to take on, because there is obvious quite a trade off to consider.