Is it difficult for Changzhou enterprises to export? Agency services can be a profit multiplier

"Mr. Zhang's clothing factory has novel designs, but overseas orders are always stuck in the logistics and customs declaration links; Ms. Li's mechanical parts have excellent quality, but she misses European customers due to being unfamiliar with the export process..." Such stories are not uncommon in the manufacturing circle of Changzhou. As a major manufacturing town in the Yangtze River Delta, how can Changzhou enterprises use professional export agency services to make "Changzhou Intelligent Manufacturing" go more smoothly to the world?

Today, when the direct sales model of cross-border e-commerce is prevalent, the value of professional export agency services has become even more prominent. Analysis by trade experts at Zhongshitong shows that when small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises in Changzhou export independently, they generally face three major pain points:

• Black hole of compliance risks: Dynamic updated regulations such as the EU REACH certification and the US FDA standard, with a tracking cost of up to 150,000 yuan per year for a single enterprise
• Hidden costs devour profits: Unexpected expenses such as sea freight less-than-container load port detention and demurrage disputes at the destination port can account for 8%-12% of the value of goods
• Lack of ability to respond to trade barriers: Systematic solutions are needed for professional operations such as anti-dumping investigation responses and optimization of origin certificates

Differing from the primary services of traditional "customs declaration + logistics", leading agencies in Changzhou have formed a differentiated competitiveness:

• Trinity customs clearance system: AEO certification qualification + pre-classification database + intelligent tax rebate system, shortening the customs clearance time by an average of 40%
• Dynamic exchange rate management: Through financial instruments such as forward foreign exchange settlement, more than 6 million yuan of exchange rate losses were avoided for customers in 2022
• Overseas warehouse collaboration network: Integrate 500,000 square meters of storage resources at 6 major ports in Europe, America and Japan to achieve B2B/B2C inventory linkage
• X industry customized solutions: Provide value-added services such as transportation temperature control and agency for dangerous goods certificates for special commodities such as photovoltaic modules and medical devices

Facing service providers of varying qualities in the market, it is recommended that enterprises focus on:

• Whether they have export cases for specific categories such as mechanical and electrical products/chemical products
• Whether they can provide implementation plans for preferential tax rates of free trade agreements such as RCEP
• Whether they have an overseas legal counsel team to handle commercial disputes
• Whether the information system supports full-process visual tracking
• Whether the service quotation includes complete link costs such as destination port customs clearance

The digital twin system created by a certain agency for Changzhou auto parts enterprises is quite representative: By simulating the combination of tariffs/freight/time limits of different transportation routes, the comprehensive cost of exporting a certain type of bearing to Germany was successfully reduced by 23%. This new model that integrates big data analysis into traditional agency services is reshaping the overseas competitiveness of Changzhou enterprises.

When the era of "going it alone" in exports is in the past, professional agency services are like an "operating system upgrade package" for enterprise internationalization. Does your enterprise's export business also need a comprehensive "system diagnosis"? Welcome to share your overseas confusion or successful experience in the comment area.