Do not be upset if you do not immediately get the result you expected

This is one of the recommendations given to beginners by Олександр Дєєв, telling the export history of the AMF – Art Metal Furniture. He is in the Dnieper company, a well-known domestic producer of office furniture, who is in charge of foreign economic activity.
It can be figuratively said that the AMF company came to European markets through Moscow. Now this route would surprise, but then, at the beginning of the two thousandth, when the main overseas market for chairs and other furniture, mainly the office destination of the Dnepropetrovsk company, was Russian, and the main foreign industry exhibition was Moscow. On it, who remembers, the exposition of this Ukrainian manufacturer has always been very solid – both in terms of area and the model range of products on display.
“There we actively began to“ overgrow ”with clients from the former Soviet republics,” recalls Alexander. – Active sales in Russia and in other markets of the near abroad assured that such products as ours – chairs, armchairs – are always and everywhere needed, and since they are in a competitive price-quality ratio and a wide range of models, This should be of interest to the so-called foreign countries. And they were not mistaken. Therefore, they became – not the first among Ukrainian furniture makers – participants in the famous Cologne exhibition. That is what we decided to give preference, if we bear in mind the three main European furniture forums. The exhibition “ORGATEC” significantly enriched our customer base. The first European supplies we had, it seems, to Germany and Holland.
There were no serious organizational problems. At that time, AMF was already an experienced importer of furniture-making mechanisms, other foreign components and finished furniture, so it turned out to be easy to arrange logistics in the opposite direction. For all customs requirements and procedures were well understood. This is important, because in relations with foreign customers, it is not enough that your products are of European quality at a competitive price, service guarantees are also needed, that is, delivery of products to them within the stipulated time, without prejudice.
Those colleagues who are only carrying out export plans must first of all carry out marketing of their product, as well as the market of the country, to which your product targets the market and will be competitive there. In this respect, it was easier for us, because we are releasing generally accepted products, one might say, of prime necessity, which, I repeat, is always and everywhere needed.
Another point that you need to know is: foreign partners imbued with great confidence in brands that have a good exhibition history, that is, they are regularly presented at authoritative exhibitions. Consequently, it is necessary for Ukrainian companies to spare no money on solid investment in their exhibition activities. Do not be upset, give up if you do not get the results you expected for after the first attempt. The second, third exhibition will surely give them if you offer a good product. Be prepared for the fact that the establishment of stable exports is not a matter of one or two months, and maybe even years.
It is also important to competently and balancedly form the price of your product for Western markets, remembering that in every country there is a tacit protectionism for domestic products. So, your price should not be higher than the prices for similar products of Polish, Romanian and Chinese production – these are the realities. Practice shows that the price of the Ukrainian product, which seeks to enter the Western markets, should be at least 10 percent lower than that of the Polish one.
Company AMF can rightly be called a successful exporter in the domestic furniture industry, because it now sells its chairs, armchairs and other furniture products to almost all European countries, as well as neighboring countries.

The “Success Stories” rubric was founded within the framework of a grant project with the support of the Swiss government called “Increasing the level of cooperation and trust between representatives of SMEs” – TENDER TOGETHER.

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