How Indian exporters can win and keep overseas importers

Fibvo editorial · 27 February 2026 · 5 min read

An exporter of brass hardware in Moradabad receives an enquiry through a B2B portal from a buyer in Rotterdam. The reply goes out two days later with a heavy PDF catalogue, prices on request, and nothing about packing, lead times or minimum order quantities. The buyer cannot work out a landed cost and moves to the next supplier. Nothing was wrong with the product.

Build a catalogue an importer can buy from

An overseas importer is working out landed cost, compliance, selling price and whether you can deliver on time. A catalogue that answers those questions saves them effort.

The buyer is not only choosing a product. They are choosing the supplier who will cause them the fewest problems.

For each product, include:

• Clear photographs on a plain background, and one showing scale or the product in use.
• Material, finish, dimensions and weight, in metric units and, for North American buyers, imperial units as well.
• The HS code. The first six digits are shared internationally, which lets the buyer look up duty in their own country's tariff.
• Minimum order quantity, and whether mixed orders are accepted.
• Packing details: units per carton, carton size and weight, and roughly how much fits in a 20-foot or 40-foot container.
• Production lead time from order confirmation.
• Test reports and certificates you can supply.

Keep a light PDF for email and the full catalogue on your website. Send prices as a separate sheet that states the currency, the Incoterms rule with a named place, such as FOB Mundra or CIF Felixstowe, and how long the prices are valid.

Treat samples as a sales stage

Serious importers want samples before an order. Sent carelessly, samples waste money. Sent slowly, they lose the buyer.

• Qualify first. Ask what the buyer sells, in which markets, in what volumes and when they plan to order.
• Set a sample policy in advance, whether free, charged, or charged and credited against the first order, and state it plainly.
• Send samples that match production quality. A sample better than your production run creates a dispute later.
• Label each sample with its catalogue code and include a printed specification sheet.
• Use a tracked international courier, declare a realistic value and an accurate description even for free samples, and check that the product is not restricted in the destination country.
• Share the tracking number, confirm arrival and, a week later, ask for feedback on specific points: finish, packing and fit with their range.

Use B2B platforms with care

Marketplaces and trade directories bring enquiries, but their quality varies. Some come from genuine importers. Others come from competitors checking prices, people collecting catalogues or fraudsters.

• Complete your profile: company details, IEC, factory photographs, certifications and a named contact. An incomplete profile looks like a risk.
• Reply to platform enquiries quickly, then move genuine buyers to email and a video call.
• Check a buyer before sharing detailed pricing or sending samples: their website, whether their email comes from the company domain, their business registration and, if you use a trade data service, their import history.
• Be wary of requests to pay for registration, certificates or verification, and of buyers who push unusual payment arrangements.
• Look at buyer-seller meets and trade delegations organised by your export promotion council, which put you face to face with importers who are actively sourcing.

Send email that arrives, at the right hour

A message that lands in the middle of a buyer's night sits beneath everything that arrives before they start work.

• India is ahead of Europe and the Americas. To reach a buyer in their morning, send in the early afternoon India time for Europe, and in the evening or late at night for North America. Buyers in East Asia and Australia are ahead of you, so their morning is your early morning. Use your email tool's scheduled send.
• Europe and North America change their clocks for daylight saving on different dates, and India does not, so the gap shifts during the year. Check it rather than relying on memory.
• Note public holidays in the buyer's country, and tell buyers in advance about your own closures, such as Diwali.
• Send from your company domain, not a free webmail address, and set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC for that domain. Major mailbox providers such as Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook check authentication, and mail that fails is more likely to land in spam or be rejected.
• Write short emails in plain English with one purpose each. Put the key figures, such as price, MOQ and lead time, in the body rather than only in an attachment.

Rules on unsolicited email differ by country, and some European countries require prior consent even for business addresses, so check before adding a buyer to a regular mailing.

Keep the importer after the first order

The first order is a trial. The importer is watching whether production matches the sample, whether you ship on the promised date and how you behave when something slips.

• Send photographs of finished goods before packing, and of the loaded container with its seal number.
• Share shipping documents promptly so the buyer can arrange clearance without chasing you.
• Report delays as soon as you know about them, with a revised date.
• After delivery, ask what could be better and fix it before the next order.

Repeat orders tend to go to the supplier the importer never had to chase. Make that your standard from the first reply onwards.

---

Written by Fibvo — Bengaluru and Erode, India — working with clients in other time zones. Questions, or think we have it wrong? Tell us.