Branding Your Products

Many importers underestimate the importance of this step and get into trouble later on. Having your own brand name and a convincing gift box design (product packaging) could be the main key to success for your import business. Why is it so important to have your own brand name and gift box design? It immediately establishes your corporate image with Chinese manufacturers and the customers in your home country. It sets you apart from the rest of the crowd and gives it a professional touch.

Creating your own gift box design may seem like wasting money since many manufacturers can also provide you with their own design (usually a very simple one) at no extra charge. Unfortunately, they will provide this service to everyone who is asking for it and these goods may even enter your home market without your knowledge. You just become another look alike retailer in a crowded field.

The result is more competition and you become unable to achieve your planned profit margin. In other words, you wasted a lot of time and money without benefiting from it.

Selecting a Brand Name

But let’s start with the own brand name first. You will need some outside help with this because the brand name which you want to choose for your products may have already been registered somewhere else. It would be disastrous if you become entangled in legal battles with the legally established brand name owner after you have distributed your imported products in your home country.

Ask a lawyer to do this for you because they have the tools to do thorough research and can register your brand name for either worldwide or only local use. Theoretically, your chosen brand name may only be available for a certain kind of product but I suggest choosing one that can be used for a wide range of products. This supports your future expansion strategy and you don’t want to be stopped by not having the suitable brand name to do so.

Protect Your Brand

Another reason for having a custom design is that the Chinese Government has implemented quite a few restrictions that help protect you as an importer. The restrictions prevent factories from producing and shipping products with your brand to other than legal brand owners.

Once you have created a nice and professional looking gift box design, there is always the risk that some factory or other importer may copy it and use it for other customers not necessarily in your home country. There is not much you can do about it but you now can see why your own brand name is so important. Do everything you can to protect it from the beginning. When you become hugely successful, it will be very valuable.

At this point, your gift box design is only a concept about color combinations, graphics, use of photos, etc. The final design can be only created after you have finalized your product selection.