[Collector's Edition] A collection of characteristics, negotiation skills, and purchasing habits of buyers from various countries
Doing foreign trade means constantly dealing with customers from various countries. What skills do you have when facing customers from different countries?
If you are familiar with the styles of buyers from different countries in advance, and understand their values, ways of thinking, behaviors and psychological characteristics, you can adjust your communication and negotiation strategies in a timely manner, which will be more conducive to winning orders.
Let’s take a look at the characteristics of customers from popular countries such as the United States, Germany, France, Russia, the Middle East, Australia, and India:
France: They have a weak sense of time and are often late or unilaterally change the time in business or social interactions.
Northern Europe: Not good at bargaining, prefer to stick to the facts, be pragmatic and efficient; attach great importance to product quality, certification, environmental protection, energy saving, etc., which are more important than price.
(Mediterranean) Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg: Stable, well-planned, focus on appearance, status and mutual understanding, trustworthy, and have high business ethics.
Italy: Although Italians are outgoing and enthusiastic, they are more cautious in contract negotiations and decision-making. Italians prefer to do business with domestic companies. If you want to cooperate with them, you must show that your products are better quality and cheaper than Italian products.
Germany: Confident, cautious, conservative, rigorous, well-planned, focused on work efficiency, and pursuing perfection.
Britain: They pay special attention to formal interests and following procedures, and are proud and reserved, especially men who give people a gentlemanly feeling.
Russia and Eastern Europe: Russian buyers prefer to negotiate large contracts, have strict requirements on transaction conditions and lack flexibility.
At the same time, Russians are relatively slow in doing things. When communicating with Russian and Eastern European buyers, you should pay attention to timely tracking and follow-up to avoid the other party's fickleness.
North America: Focus on efficiency, cherish time, pursue practical benefits, and attach importance to publicity and appearance.
The negotiation style is outgoing, generous, confident and even a little arrogant, but he will be very cautious when dealing with specific business and contracts.
When negotiating or making offers with American buyers, special attention should be paid. The overall situation should be considered, and the offer should include a complete solution and take all aspects into consideration.
South America: You need to be considerate during negotiations. At the same time, many South American buyers lack knowledge of international trade and even have a very weak concept of payment by letter of credit.
Due to the unstable local political situation and volatile domestic financial policies, you must be particularly cautious when using L/C when doing business with South American customers. At the same time, you must learn to use the "localization" strategy and focus on giving full play to the role of chambers of commerce and commercial sponsorship offices.
Middle East: In the eyes of Arabs, credibility is the most important thing. People who negotiate business must first win their favor and trust, respect their religious beliefs, and respect Allah. Middle Eastern people use a lot of body language during negotiations and like to bargain.
Japanese: Outstanding team spirit, well-prepared, strong planning, focus on long-term interests. Patient and resolute, sometimes ambiguous and smooth, and accustomed to using "wheel tactics" and "silent ice-breaking" methods in negotiations.
South Korea: Koreans are good at negotiation, are well-organized, logical, and have strong understanding and reaction abilities. They attach great importance to creating an atmosphere. Their businessmen are generally serious and have a solemn or even dignified attitude. Our suppliers should be fully prepared, adjust their mentality, and not be overwhelmed by the other party's momentum.
There is a serious polarization between the rich and the poor. The purchase quantity is small and mixed, but the goods are urgent. Most of them use T/T and cash payment methods, and do not like to use L/C. There is one thing to pay special attention to: although there are many African scammers in the trade field, many big African sellers are often privileged classes in the local area, not only rich but also powerful.
Suppliers should try their best to understand and analyze the other party's information, have more conversations, and carefully judge the other party's credibility.
Australians are extremely polite in their speech and are used to speaking in a soft voice. They have a strong sense of time. Local businessmen generally focus on efficiency, are calm and quiet, and clearly distinguish between public and private matters.
The common features are a variety of styles, but the purchase quantity is small;
They pay great attention to product style, design, quality and material, and require environmental protection; they are relatively scattered, mostly personal brands, but have high loyalty; they pay great attention to the R&D capabilities of the factory, have high requirements for styles, and generally have their own designers; they have brand experience requirements; the payment method is relatively flexible;
They do not attach importance to factory inspections, but focus on certification (environmental certification, quality and technical certification, etc.), the factory's design, R&D, production capabilities, etc. Most of them require suppliers to do OEM/ODM.
2 American buyers
North America (United States, Canada, etc.)
The merchants are mainly Jewish, and most of them are engaged in wholesale business. Generally, the purchase volume is relatively large, and the price must be very competitive, but the profit is low;
Loyalty is not high, very realistic, as long as he finds a lower price, he will cooperate with another supplier;
Focus on factory inspections and human rights (such as whether the factory uses child labor, etc.);
Usually by L/C, payment within 60 days.
South America (Brazil, Argentina, etc.)
Large quantity and low price are good, and the quality requirements are not high;
There are no quota requirements, but there are high tariffs, and many customers make CO from third countries;
Few banks in Mexico can open letters of credit. It is recommended to ask the buyer to pay in cash (T/T).
Japan and South Korea: high price, medium quantity;
Comprehensive quality requirements (high quality, highest requirements for details)
Japan: 100% Inspection;
They have extremely high requirements and strict inspection standards, but they are very loyal. After cooperating, they rarely change suppliers.
Buyers usually entrust Japanese business companies or Hong Kong institutions to contact suppliers.
India/Pakistan:
They value price more, and buyers are highly polarized: some bid high but demand the best products, while others bid low and have no requirements for quality.
Pay attention to identifying the authenticity of the seller and it is recommended to ask the buyer to pay in cash.
Buying goods upon inspection, paying for goods upon delivery, or selling goods on credit;
The order quantity is small, the variety is large, and the goods are needed urgently;
African countries implement pre-shipment inspection of imported and exported goods, which increases our costs and delays delivery in actual operations;
Credit cards and checks are widely used in South Africa, and people are accustomed to "spend first and pay later."
They are used to doing indirect transactions through agents and are not interested in doing direct transactions;
They are not very demanding on products, but pay more attention to color and prefer dark-colored items. They have small profits and small quantities, but fixed orders;
Buyers are more honest, but suppliers are particularly careful with agents to avoid being pressured by them in various ways;
You should pay attention to the principle of keeping your promise, maintain a good attitude, and don't be too fussy about a few samples or the postage of samples.
France: Respect French etiquette and avoid asking about the political inclinations, religious beliefs, personal income and other personal matters of French businessmen;
Pay attention to the negotiation of contract details and send personnel equivalent to the French side to negotiate with them;
Take advantage of every occasion and opportunity to make friends with the French.
UK: Pay attention to the topic of conversation, avoid politics, talk about the weather;
The British value status and rank, and when negotiating, they must focus on the equality of status;
Respect the time and pay attention to the claim clauses of the contract.
Germany: Germans are cautious and steady in their negotiation style, and the extent of concessions is generally within 20%;
When negotiating with German businessmen, you should pay attention to the way they address you and the way they give gifts, as well as make adequate preparations for the negotiations and pay attention to the choice of negotiators and their skills.
Russia: Russian businessmen stick to tradition and like to do things according to plan. At the same time, they are interested in technical details, attach particular importance to the technical content and claim terms in the negotiation projects, and are particularly good at bargaining on prices.
North America: American negotiators value efficiency and like to make quick decisions. Their negotiation style is outgoing, confident, and even a little arrogant. This should be fully utilized to create opportunities for success.
They are very cautious when dealing with specific business and contracts, and attach great importance to publicity and appearance;
When negotiating or quoting, you should pay attention to the whole to the whole, provide a complete package when quoting, and consider the whole situation;
Most Canadians are conservative in character. They don't like price fluctuations and prefer to take things step by step.
South America: Respect customs and beliefs, and avoid political issues in negotiations;
Since different countries have different policies on export and foreign exchange controls, it is necessary to conduct careful research and write the contract terms clearly to avoid disputes later;
The contract fulfillment rate is low, with repeated revisions and payments often not being made on time.
Japan and South Korea: Japanese businessmen have a strong sense of group consciousness and are accustomed to collective decision-making. "Winning with less is more" is a negotiation habit of Japanese businessmen;
They focus on building personal relationships, do not like to bargain over contracts, value reputation over contracts, and consider middlemen very important;
Pay attention to etiquette and face, never criticize or reject Japanese people directly, and pay attention to gift giving;
"Delay tactics" are a common "trick" used by Japanese businessmen. Japanese businessmen do not like hard and fast "sales-style" negotiations, and focus on calmness, confidence, elegance and patience;
Koreans are more straightforward than Japanese, but at the last minute they will still ask for a "lower price". When signing a contract, they like to sign it in three languages: the partner's language, English, and Korean, and all three languages have equal validity.
Middle Eastern Arabs: slow negotiation pace, love bargaining;
Subordinates play an important role in negotiations, and their role as agents cannot be ignored;
I like information that combines pictures and texts. I also pay attention to the order in which the pictures are arranged. Arabs read pictures from right to left.
Respect religious customs, avoid political issues, and stay away from topics related to women.
Africa: Don’t rush into negotiations, but adapt to their pace of life and try to fit in with their living habits;
During the negotiation, all issues and even the details of various terms and clauses should be clarified and confirmed one by one to avoid misunderstandings and disputes;
Make full use of domestic enterprises that have established branches in South Africa, strengthen economic cooperation with South Africa, and use it as a base to bypass various tariff and non-tariff barriers and radiate to surrounding and European and American countries.
Oceania: Oceania buyers do not like to bargain during negotiations . They focus on practicality, are cautious in signing contracts, and have a strong sense of time.
The above characteristics of buyers from different countries are just general ones. The specific characteristics still vary from person to person, and you need to adapt to the situation in the process of continuous communication.