Many of the projects for which we are being asked for help involve import-export, and particularly, in the case of exports, specific Moroccan craft products. But the sector is already highly competitive. How can you stand out from the crowd and make a success of your project?
Choosing which products to export
If you look at online shops selling Moroccan products, you get the impression that Morocco only produces a few items:
- leather slippers and footstools
- argan oil and its derivatives
- saffron
- ghassoul
- tagines and pottery
- Berber carpets
Which is to say that if you limit yourself to these products, there’s a lot of competition. You can also often find them on e-bay, at knock-down prices from people who sell under the table.
In reality, Morocco has many more products to offer. If you want to stand out from the crowd and avoid this price competition, you can also have original products made locally, using designs that you have drawn up yourself (in this case, be sure to protect them by registering them in Morocco and in the countries where you sell them, otherwise you’ll find them everywhere within three months).
For example, instead of offering the classic cosmetics (argan oil and black soap), add castor oil or aloe vera. Of course, these products exist outside Morocco, but the more choice you give your customers, the more likely they will be to buy from you, and above all, the more you will stand out from the crowd.
Marketing
By being original, your shop will already score a point. Write your own texts and, if possible, take your own photos. When browsing through your catalogue, prospects should not have the impression of having seen exactly the same thing elsewhere. If they do, they’ll focus on the only differentiating factor you have left: price.
Reassure foreign consumers
Selling from Morocco is difficult. For you, as we shall see below, the constraints are significant. But above all, you need to reassure foreign consumers.
Buying in Morocco by mail order is scary: what recourse do you have in the event of a scam, late delivery or defective product? How long does delivery take? How do you send the product back to Morocco for an exchange?
What’s more, many customers don’t realise that they risk paying customs duties, or at least VAT.
It’s up to you to make your legal notices and general terms and conditions pages clear and complete. Identify yourself, have a name, a telephone number, a Skype, a WhatsApp, an online chat system…
For each payment method (paypal, credit card, bank transfer, etc.) explain to the customer how they are protected (for example, if there is a problem with a credit card payment, French banks immediately re-credit the account and then carry out an investigation. Paypal protects buyers in a similar way: in the event of a complaint, the funds are immediately blocked until the dispute is clarified).
For returns and exchanges, you might consider setting up a system where your customers don’t have to send you back low-value items. Or have a relay in Europe to minimise costs.
Compliance with legislation
European consumers are used to laws that protect them more than Moroccan laws. You may decide to apply these laws commercially and contractually. Then put it forward.
But above all, you must respect the laws of the countries in which you sell. Many products, in any case everything to do with food, beauty and body care, are subject to standards, import authorisations and so on.
Clearly display the composition of your products, their dimensions, the standards they meet and any certifications (particularly organic).
To avoid your products being held up at customs, check all the constraints that apply before shipping.
Once again, highlighting all these efforts will help you stand out from the crowd and give your customers confidence.
Logistics
Logistics is the entire organisation that enables you to :
- send your products to your customers
- comply with customs procedures in Morocco (country of exit) and the country of arrival
- have all the supporting documents for your exports in your accounts.
And here, clearly, sending an individual product from Morocco to a European country costs three arms and four legs compared to the local post office. Especially if it’s a quick shipment, and on the Internet, customers don’t wait.
Shipping parcels directly from Morocco
If you have small products, the “letter” format may be suitable. It is still reasonably economical.
If your products are larger, they need to be sent as parcels, and here the “fast” option is extremely expensive (the first price for a small parcel in express delivery via DHL is around €80). Amana, the Moroccan Post’s international service, is cheaper (first price for a parcel in France around €23), but not as fast.
And be careful! The times quoted by Amana (up to 7 days) actually depend on the processing carried out by the foreign post office. I’ve often had bad experiences, particularly in France. But for your customer, the problem is likely to come from Morocco.
Finally, the post office refuses to handle certain ‘prohibited’ products, depending on the destination. Cosmetics are one of these prohibited products for France. In this case, you will have to go through a forwarding agent.
Moroccan customs are going paperless, which makes things easier. If you send your parcels via a forwarding agent, he will take care of all the formalities (at a cost of around 1,200 dirhams per case). If you use Amana, the post office will take care of these formalities.
Using a forwarding agent
The freight forwarder, therefore, takes care of all the customs formalities on leaving Morocco and entering the European county.
To be profitable, you need to ship a certain volume of goods. Depending on the volume, you will have your own container (wholesale), or your products will be in a collective container.
But the forwarder will make a one-off delivery. He can’t take care of individual deliveries to your customers (or else he’s called DHL or UPS). This solution is therefore valid if you sell to professional customers, in large quantities, or if you have a relay on site, which will do the storage, shipping and returns management.
Having a base overseas
As soon as you have a small amount of business, having a local relay overseas is the best solution:
- you can ship larger volumes from Morocco all at once, which reduces costs
- you can ship very quickly from stock to your end customers, and shipping prices within Europe (or US depending of your primary target) remain reasonable
- having a European address, with a telephone number, is the best way to reassure your customers
But this costs money:
- you have to finance your stock
- the service provider you work with will invoice you for their labour at a European price.
For your information, here is the website of a service provider offering this service in France.
The cultural minute: the meaning of Amana
For the record, Amana is an Arabic word meaning an asset entrusted to you, which you must return intact after a certain period of time. It is linked to the soul in religion, and has given rise to “Amine”, a title given to an honest man. It also means “probity”, and the makhzen is supposed to be based on a system of amana implemented by oumanas (plural of amine) in charge of money-related administrations, such as customs and tax.
End of the cultural minute.
In conclusion
I’ve only mentioned the logistical aspects here. If you add in all the foreign exchange controls, you realise just how much more complicated exporting from Morocco is than selling from one European country to another, even though Morocco has an advanced partnership agreement with Europe that simplifies things. And the extent to which this “European bouzin”, ignored and disparaged, simplifies life for many people, not just the big groups.
The Moroccan government is aware of this problem. It wants to develop Moroccan crafts and local products, and is putting in place structures and support, which we will detail in another article. Nevertheless, you need to be aware that selling e-commerce abroad is not as easy as bringing back souvenirs from your holidays!
A typo or syntax error? You can select the text and hit Ctrl+Enter to send us a message. Thank you! If this post interested you, maybe you can also leave a comment. We'd love to exchange with you !
