Are you interested in starting a tea export business but you lack ideas on how to go about it? Do you need a sample tea export business plan template or feasibility study report? Then I advice you read on. Tea is a popular drink in virtually all parts of the world, and it’s been widely consumed for centuries. The demand for this drink isn’t likely to tank anytime soon, especially with the globally increasing awareness of the multiple health benefits of various blends of tea.
If you pride yourself on being able to produce one or more blends and flavors of tea, or you have some experience in the export industry, then you should consider starting a tea export business, since this is a profitable way to share the product among other tea lovers in the world.
Do you have all what it takes to venture into the tea export business? Then follow these guidelines, as they will help you get started successfully.
Starting a Tea Export Company – Sample Business Plan Template
1. Plan your business
Before taking a plunge into the tea export business, you need to determine what your niche will be. This entails figuring out the specific blends or flavors that you will be exporting. And focus more on offerings and strategies that will help your business stand out from the others. For example, you may consider your selling point to be better packaging and unique recipes.
You also need to find out which countries you will be exporting your tea to. Come up with a list of countries and analyze how well the product will most like sell in each country. Then compare your results and choose the most promising countries on your list. Even if your analysis reveals that your product will sell in many countries, you should focus on one country for a start and then cover more countries as your business grows with time.
Your channel of distribution is another important factor you must consider during the planning process, because determining the channels through which you will sell your tea requires much thought and consideration. You can choose to sell your tea over the internet or through other means. If you would be receiving orders via the internet, you will need to consider payment processors, delivery method, and so on.
The most important aspect of planning your business is the development of a business plan. This is because a well-written business plan will guide you through the processes of starting and growing your business and keep you from going off-track along the line.
Your business plan will include vital details about your business such as your goals and objectives, startup costs, projected earnings, market analysis, financial analysis, marketing strategy, growth strategy, and so on.
2. Find suppliers
If you would be producing the tea yourself, then you may need to contact suppliers of the raw materials needed for tea production. However, you must ensure that you can get supplies from them any time, even through a short notice. To be on the safe side, have one main supplier and one or two “standby” suppliers who can come to your aid if your main supplier runs out of stock.
However, if you don’t plan to produce the tea yourself (which means you will only buy tea and export it), you need to contact wholesalers of processed tea.
In any case, you should only contact and deal with suppliers with years of experience in sales of tea or its supplies. Before you sign a contract with them, make sure they are fully aware of the exact supplies or products that you will be buying from them.
3. Start production
This applies only if you will produce your tea. Before you start hunting for buyers, you will need to have a minimal amount of stock available. You never know, a new client might place instant orders, and telling them that you don’t have the product in stock would send bad signals about your business.
4. Find buyers
It goes without saying that you need to find buyers who are interested in your tea. However, this step is somewhat difficult because it involves marketing your products to clients who live outside your country, leaving all or most of the marketing to be done over the internet.
You can start by searching the web for blogs, online forums, and social media communities often visited by your potential clients. For example, if you are planning to export your tea to Ghana, a good online platform for reaching out to potential customers in that country is Ghanaweb.
However, you must bear in mind that you won’t be hunting for individual buyers. Retail businesses and cafes are your main target. So, your marketing should be tailored to owners of such businesses.
Conclusion
Starting and running a tea business, like most other businesses, is not easy. However, with the guidelines discussed in this post, you should be able to weather the challenges of the business and success in the long run.