Dear Furby,
Marketing a product in another country is a difficult and complex
process, especially if you're a small manufacturer.
Start with doing a small market research. How popular would peanut
butter be in Finland? Who are the main competitors, if there is
already peanut butter sold in Finland? (I would imagine that the
gospel of Skippy arrived there, too). For that, you'll need to do
professional marketing research, preferebly with a Finnish firm. A
preliminary check I've done would not encourage you. The word
"maapähkinävoi" comes up only 234 on Google Search, which might go to
show how (un)popular peanut-butter is in Finland.
maapähkinävoi - search on Google
<://www.google.com/search?q=maap%C3%A4hkin%C3%A4voi&hl=en&lr=&sa=N&tab=iw>
Finnish market research firms:
Taloustutkimus Oy
<http://www.toy.fi/english/index.html>
Turku School of Economics and Business Administration - Infomarket
<http://www.tukkk.fi/innomarket/>
In addition to that, you have to consider what your peanut butter is
made of. The Finnish are weary of genetically modified food, and
you'll have to prove that the components of your peanut-butter are not
GM. See, for example:
"In November 2000, the Nordic Industrial Fund carried out a survey in
Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden on GM foods and applications of
genetic modification. The survey found that it was regarded as a major
benefit in itself that a product is non-GM. When a product involved
genetic modification, this elicited numerous negative associations,
mainly "unhealthy" and "uncertainty" (SOURCE: "What Europeans think
about GMOs" Friends of the earth Europe,
<http://www.foeeurope.org/GMOs/explore/what_europeans.htm>). Since
most peanuts and corn syrup in the United States are genetically
modified, you may have to buy more expensive materials in order to
succeed.
After you've established whether peanut butter has at all selling
potential in Finnland (it seems that you'll have to work hard to sell
this beyond the small expat community), you'd better go to your next
station - the Finnish Embassy, and mroe accurately, their economic
department. Here, for example, are the details for the United States.
Economic Affairs (browse down)
<http://www.finland.org/doc/en/embassy/personnel.html>
Business Support
<http://www.finland.org/doc/en/consular/business.html>
They would inform you of important details, such as:
- Health regulations in exporting food to Finland
- Possible levies and taxes
- Whether you are required by law to work with a Finnish company.
You might want to check with your own country's ministry of commerce
or trade. They would inform you of any assitance you might be able to
receive in your endevours. In the United States, for example, your
first address would be export.gov
Export.gov
<http://www.export.gov/index.asp>
Please note that they might have some ready-made market-research done
already in Finland and in any case, they are able to perform one for
you (for a fee, of course).
Right now, they have the following ready-made articles, about Finland:
Doing Business in Finland: The 2005 Country Commercial Guide for U.S. Companies
<http://www.buyusainfo.net/docs/x_2579543.pdf> (PDF Document)
More results regarding Finland:
BuyUSA Info - Finland search
<http://www.buyusainfo.net/body.cfm?dbf=ccg1%2Cbmr1%2Cmrsearch1&search_type2=int&avar=19999&country=Finland&logic=and&loadnav=no>
Buy USA - Finland
<http://www.buyusa.gov/finland/en/>
Next, and hopefully by this time you don't need this stage, you have
to find a distributor. Hopefully, the advices you've received from
Export.gov and from the Finnish Embassy (as well as from the market
research firm, if you chose to hire them), helped you figure out what
are the main forces in the Finnish food retail sector, and whom you
should contact as a food broker or distributor. Here, your
presentations in trade fairs could be helpful. Information on trade
fairs is available in the Buy USA page. A potential buyer could be
Behnford's, a store selling American and British food in Helsinki:
Behnford's
<http://behnfords.com/>
Although you could ask them regarding their pricing policy, you should
consider that the Finnish customs has 12.5% tax on every peanut-butter
product imported from outside the EU (and perhaps a higher tax on
those imported from the US, because of current disagreement between
the countries), that there is an unfavourable exchange rate between
the Euro and the Dollar, and that in general, such a product would not
be priced well under 6-7 EUR.
There's a long way ahead of you, and all that is left, is to wish you
success. I hope this answers your question. Please contact me if you
need any clarification on this answer before you rate it. |
