Calling all residents of Filipino communities abroad! Get ready to turn your love for Filipino dried fish into a profitable business opportunity. With only a few players in the market and probably zero competition in your home state, you've got the chance to easily sell one of our all-time favorite go-to foods.
But here's the thing, if you want to turn this opportunity into a thriving business, you need to tackle the trilemma of dried fish trading and sourcing: freshness, importation cost, and buyer protection. Don't worry though, by addressing these challenges head-on, you'll be setting yourself up for success in the exciting world of Filipino dried fish sales!
The Trilemma of Dried Fish Importation
Freshness
Dried fish is a highly perishable product. Although vacuum sealing can extend its shelf life for up to 5 months, factors such as flavor and texture are still important to buyers. Many dried fish traders try to ensure freshness by ordering smaller quantities more frequently from their supplier. However, this can lead to costly stock-outs and higher freight costs due to piecemeal delivery schedules, which can negatively impact profitability.
Importation Cost
To save on freight costs, many traders order large quantities from suppliers using sea freight containers and lengthy warehouse cycles. Some take advantage of supplier inventory clearance deals to get big discounts, but this can come at the expense of freshness and quality. While this practice may result in lower prices and potentially larger profits, it can also lead to customers avoiding your store. Remember, your target market is Filipinos who are nostalgic for a taste of home. Quality should not be sacrificed in an attempt to cut costs.
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Buyer Protection
Dried fish importers often pay their suppliers using bank transfers, remittances, and other less secure payment channels. This can be problematic as the buyer has no recourse in the event of discrepancies in shipments or, in the worst case, lost cargo. In the event that the supplier suddenly goes out of business and fails to deliver, the importer is unable to recover their payment. Imagine working hard to build your dried fish trading and importation business over the years, only to lose all of your profits due to this type of incident. It is this inherent risk of importation that causes many traders to either avoid importing dried fish from the Philippines or, if they do choose to import, to limit their purchase volume as a risk management strategy. Unfortunately, this also limits their potential for growth.
In Summary
In summary, a focus on freshness through piecemeal ordering can prevent you from scaling up and becoming a larger dried fish importer with a competitive pricing structure. On the other hand, too many cost-cutting measures on importation costs can lead to a decline in product freshness and quality. Using less secure payment channels to grow your dried fish business also exposes you to greater financial risk and makes your business a potential time bomb waiting to explode.
The Bantayan Direct Solution
Bantayan Direct offers a solution by addressing the three core issues as well as balancing your trilemma as an importer for maximum business efficiency, risk management, and profitability.
On Freshness
We understand the importance of freshness and have implemented measures to ensure it. We use DHL Air Express (3 to 6 days) to ship customer orders, rather than sea freight, and we select fresh-from-the-dryer products (below 7 days old) for export. As an FDA-registered business entity, we adhere to the best packing and food handling standards and vacuum-seal every item. This allows us to maintain the freshness of our products while fulfilling orders.
On Importation Cost
We use curated bundle packs to maximize each DHL box and offer wholesale pricing on our dried fish products. While this results in smaller profits in the short term, we believe that building long-term partnerships with customers is what sustains our business.
On Buyer Protection
We will use PayPal to bill your orders, which you can pay for using your own PayPal account or credit card. PayPal's buyer protection ensures that if you receive the wrong item or nothing at all, we are obligated to reimburse you for the full payment amount, including shipping.
Get started with your Philippine Dried Fish importation journey here.
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