The Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (FOBAP) Integrated Development Foundation has urged exporters to offer new services and products utilizing unique raw materials to regain buyers and tap new ones.

“We need a lot of product development and lot of presentations to get buyers to book with us. Our concern is still how to get back the business that we lost,” said FOBAP trustee Marian Santos-Nash.
Buyers have started coming back as the market slightly picked up.
“There are now buyers and there are a lot of new things that they need. We have to watch out what are the needs of both the local and international markets.”

Nash underscored the importance of “storyboard selling” which incorporates product development, interior design as well as raw materials and sourcing compliance.

“When you sell something, you can’t do item selling. It should be part of the story. If you do the spa, you have to also do the candle and teaching the technology should be part of the package. If bathroom is your motif, you should offer all products which can be found in the bathroom.”

Nash urged businesses to utilize unique raw materials to make their products competitive. "They must also sell products which will complement what Vietnam and other countries supply to traditional markets."

“You have to recreate with new technology and designs. Products can’t be hand-made like before because it takes a long time to make these; these must be semi-massed produced. And finishing is important,” she added.

To gain more buyers, Nash raised the need for exporters to aggressively market their products. “When the business is bad, it is when you should be active socially. You have to present yourself to more buyers and spend more time in advertising your company,” she added. (EHL)