What are the five steps for a first export? From confirming demand and product registration to export customs clearance and listing

Short answer: A first export has five steps: confirm that people will buy, decide whose name holds the registration, calculate landed cost, choose one channel, and look after the store after listing. You can stop after each of the first three steps; the second is where projects most often get stuck.

Scenario: a health-supplement manager is told, "Give me an overseas-expansion plan next month"

You are the marketing manager of a probiotic brand. At a management meeting last week, the owner said: "Our Taiwan volume has reached its limit. Give me an overseas-expansion plan next month." Then the meeting ended. There was no country, budget, or definition of success.

You open a browser and find two types of material: broad articles about Southeast Asian population and market size that cannot go into a presentation, and consulting-firm service pages that all say "it depends on the case." What worries you most is putting a timeline in the presentation and being unable to answer when the owner asks, "What if we get stuck in the second month?"

This article is for you: five stages, each with one question to answer, a usual sticking point, and a decision on whether you can stop when it is complete. You can use it directly as the framework for a presentation.

Stage one: confirm that people will buy (you can stop when this is complete)

There is only one question to answer: will people in this market pay when they see your product and price? It is not "is the market big enough?" It is "will they buy yours?"

Asking one hundred people in Taiwan cannot answer that question because they are not local consumers. Our approach is a Market Test: send three products to Manila, let local teachers, parents, and other salaried consumers who pay for their own purchases pick them up and check the prices, then use a one-page report to explain who will buy, what price they will pay, and why they will not buy, with a Taiwan–Philippines price-gap comparison.

Sticking point: Many brands skip this step and go straight to stage two to obtain registration. Only after the registration comes through do they discover that the price tier is wrong. The money and time spent on registration are then wasted.

You can stop after this step. If it does not pass, the report will explain why and which changed conditions would make another attempt possible. The cost is NT$10,000–20,000, not millions.

Stage two: determine whose name holds the registration (the step that most often gets stuck)

The question to answer is: what registration does your product need in the destination country, whose name holds it, and what happens if you change partners?

Rules vary greatly by market and product category, and all need to be checked against official sources:

Sticking point: In the Philippines, registration is not a question of "can we apply ourselves?" It is a question of whose name it is held under. If an agent holds it, the registration goes with that agent when you later change agents. This is why our Consignment package has a licensed importer apply for and hold the registration, with the agreement stating that the data belongs to you.

Timing: Philippine product registration usually takes 6–12 weeks. This does not have to be idle time; school-and-parent activities can start during it.

Stage three: how do you calculate landed cost before export customs clearance? (you can stop when this is complete)

The question to answer is: what does it cost when the goods arrive locally and can start selling, and is there still profit at this price?

Landed cost is not just customs duty. We split it into seven parts: ex-factory price, international freight, insurance, destination-country customs duty, destination-country value-added tax and excise tax, customs clearance and local delivery, and warehousing and platform commissions. Use TradePilot to check the current tariff portion ⁶. The landed-cost article has a table on who can estimate the other parts.

Sticking point: The item most often missed is that value-added tax is payable at import, not when goods are sold. Prepare this cash flow in advance.

You can stop after this step. If gross margin does not work in a pessimistic scenario, adjust the product or pricing rather than forcing the launch.

Stage four: choose one channel, not three

The question to answer is: where will goods sit in the first year, whose name will the store use, and who will promote it?

Online or offline, operating your own store or using Consignment, importer or agent — each option has different control, upfront investment, and risk. For a first overseas expansion, we usually recommend one route first: put goods in a partner's warehouse, sell as they sell, and review the numbers after three months. The Philippines e-commerce article explains how to choose a platform.

Sticking point: An agent wants exclusivity and asks you to stock inventory. Before signing, first consider whose name holds the registration, who owns the data, and how you will separate if it does not work out.

Stage five: who replies to messages after listing?

The question to answer is: who replies during local hours when consumers ask questions before ordering or complain after ordering?

Listing is only the beginning. Product pages must use local language, prices must be compared with local equivalents, someone must reply to messages, and someone must watch reviews. None of this happens by itself; platforms will not put an unattended store where people can see it.

Sticking point: "Our English is decent" is not the same as "someone replies at that time." You need an answer before listing.

When we do not recommend starting yet

• The product is not yet established in Taiwan. Overseas expansion means taking something that already sells to another place. It is not a way to rescue something that cannot sell in Taiwan.
• The owner wants a target such as "30% of revenue overseas within one year." The first year's target can only be "confirm that people will buy and at what price." Set the wrong target and every step will be pressured into being skipped.
• You only want to find an agent and leave everything to them. An agent takes commission and does not determine whether you can sell. If the registration is in the agent's name, you cannot even see the shelf.

Frequently asked questions

What is the process for a first export? Do we have to follow the order? We recommend doing the first three steps in order because each later answer is built on the earlier one. Channel entry and listing preparation can proceed in parallel.

How much money should we prepare for a first overseas expansion? A Market Test costs NT$10,000–20,000 and lets you stop after completion. The Consignment package costs NT$50,000–60,000, with the Market Test fee credited toward the Consignment package, for a combined starting amount of NT$70,000. Company Setup after that is quoted by project. Discuss the cost of the next step only once you reach it; do not budget millions from the beginning.

Do we have to apply for product registration ourselves? In the Philippines, registration for food, health products, and cosmetics can only be held by a local licensed company; a Taiwan brand cannot hold it directly. The question is therefore not "apply ourselves," but whose name holds it and how the agreement is written. Under the Consignment package, a licensed importer applies for and holds it, your data belongs to you, and the contract requires the importer to cooperate with the transfer, so you do not start from scratch; the FDA transfer or re-notification procedure still applies.

One small next step

Put only stage one on the first page of the presentation: "Spend NT$10,000–20,000 on a Market Test, get a one-page report, and stop if it does not pass." If the owner asks what happens when you get stuck in the second month, the answer is: you have not started spending serious money in the second month yet.

Last verified: October 1, 2026. Follow official sources for each country's regulations and check them again each quarter.