An import business in an opportunity for the owner to bring and sell products (photography equipment) in Morocco were the supply is very limited. As a student in international business, this really interests me. Every business that crosses any border is considered international. Like importing or exporting for example. I also like photography and it is one of my hobbies. As a combination of both, I really like the idea of importing and selling photography equipment to my country.
Photography Interest
Photography is a really interesting topic for me because the photographer uses nature to create his own art. But when we say photography, we don’t only think of a camera. A professional photographer needs for than that to do well his job. Fro example, he needs multiple lenses depending on the photograph he wants to take, filters for the lenses to play with lights, flashlight, and tripods, and the list goes on and on. When a photographer has all the equipment he needs, he can be more creative and more successful in his career. In Morocco, the accessibility of this kind of equipment is limited and photographers need to travel to at least Europe to get what they need. By importing the products and equipment photographer need, it would be easier for them to buy them without leaving the country.
Competition in the Business
One of the most important things to have a successful business is to be able to get on top of the competition. In Morocco as it was already mentioned, the availability of photography equipment is very limited. Which make the idea of importing them from over seas even more profitable. In other words, the demand for this kind of equipment is higher than its supply. Therefore, the seller in this case “my company” could have the monopole in this market by making all the equipment needed available near the costumers.
Countries to Import From
Morocco is in North Africa and is the closest African country to Europe. Therefore, it’s not really hard to import equipment from Europe over Spain. Another really important exporting country is Japan. It is known for its good quality equipment, which are not very expensive. China is another alternative but not for all materials. For example Chinese cameras are cheap but not that much reliable. Accessories that may be good to import from china are lenses caps, and carrying bags for cameras for example. Morocco already import and export many products and materials such as, as shown in Atlasmedia, cars, minerals, and insolated wires for example are exported while products as wheat, corn, phones and cars are imported. These are just few examples out of the products that crosses the Moroccan borders.
Morocco is now developing country and people are now using new Ideas to succeed. For this idea of importing and selling equipment for example, one alternative for selling would be to create a website for the company in the beginning and start selling the products from it. Then when the company grows, opening a store could be a good alternative. Just a couple years ago, there was no online shopping in Morocco at all. And now, many websites just like Ebay or Amazon a immerging in the country. People will of course use the easiest method and that is to just buy from the Internet and wait for it to be delivered at home.
Quality and Price
Morocco doesn’t have a purchasing power as high as the U.S for example. Therefore, the price range for the equipment imported will be very large in order to be accessible for everyone. Various quality of equipment will be important to get this large price range. Like where you go, the more you pay, the better quality you get. That is the policy that the company will offer starting with really low prices. The audience targeted by the blog is photographers in Morocco who like to stay up to date with the new photography products, and who probably want a product that they couldn’t find in the Domestic market.
The Moroccan Customs and Duties
The importing Duties in Morocco are different from those in the U.S. The costumer pays most taxes in the U.S when he buys the product. But in Morocco, it is the seller who pays the taxes when he imports the products. The calculation method for the importation includes the cost of the product, the cost of the insurance, and the cost of the freight. As shown in www.dutycalculator.com, the sales tax rate in Morocco is 20% in all products. Which make the price of products in Morocco more expensive than other country from where they were imported of course. But as mentioned before, the demand for these products is much higher than its supply. This will compensate the problem of the price, which is also higher in the supply and demand curve. The supply and demand curve is a curve used in economic where you find the demand and the supply values as curves and it gives you the equilibrium price and quantity. If the Demand is higher than the supply, the price rises. But if the supply is higher, then the price goes down.
In conclusion, this Idea of importing photography equipment could be very successful due to the lack of supply in Morocco and the importance of the demand for these products. Again, the better equipment a photographer has, the more creative he could be. There are very talented photographers in Morocco but their creativity is limited by the lack of equipment. The high demand makes the product even more valuable and the idea promising.
Sources:
Alexander S, Dave L, César H, “products exported by Morocco” The observation of economic complexity. 2010. Web. 02/20/2015
Www.Dutycalculator.com
photography import 