Sanet Business Unit now with import service: Sales to Thailand
For many years, the Business Unit (BU) at Sanet Trade & Services has been recognized as the fastest and most cost-effective way to establish a contractual representation in Thailand. Sanet handles marketing, technical service and sales in Thailand using employees working specifically for each principal. Of course, Sanet has regularly obtained direct orders from customers in Thailand for its manufacturers and principals.
One downside of the BU, however, was that Sanet did not trade in spare parts for the principal. The parts often had to be imported in a time-consuming process, while the customers in Thailand preferred to have their repairs carried out quickly and directly without customs clearance.
Almost two dozen mostly European companies have been and continue to be using the Business Unit at Sanet Trade & Services in Bangkok as their fast, efficient and cost-effective way to enter the Thai market.
The arguments are obvious:
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- The Business Unit is setup in a matter of days. There are no investments or administrative costs for the principal.
- The Business Unit is a legally compliant, contractual way to establish sales in Thailand. As a contractual service partner, Sanet takes over the marketing and distribution of products which would otherwise be prohibited to foreigners under the Foreigners Business Act.
- In contrast to traditional distributors for imports to Thailand, Sanet does not charge a dealer’s margin, which pushes up the price. Instead, the costs of providing representation are budgeted transparently in a contract and fixed at a flat rate.
- The employees engaged by Sanet only work for one principal at a time. Sanet and the principal work closely together in choosing the employees as well as in training the technical guidance of the team members. Moreover, they establish direct contact between manufacturers and their customers.
- If the development of sales in Thailand is successful, Sanet supports the establishment of the principal’s own company, organizes government approvals, for example from the BOI, and is open to the employees’ wish to follow the customer into his new company.
Machines sold were usually delivered directly from the customer to Thailand, which had the advantage for the buyer that the investment was usually exempt from import duties and was promoted by the Board of Investment.
One disadvantage of the BU, however, was that there was no self-trading, especially for the supply of spare parts, which often required a time-consuming import of the goods, while the customer in Thailand preferred to have his repairs carried out quickly and directly and without customs clearance.
This problem has now been solved. With the new import and export license, Sanet Trade & Services now has the ability to import and stock spare parts for the BU’s partner. The license makes it possible to both import the parts at preferential tariffs and resell them invoiced in Thai.
This makes the Business Unit at Sanet even more attractive for Sanet’s principals when selling to Thailand.