BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Business development for brands and companies entering new markets or growing in existing ones, in Europe, the United States and beyond.

We research the market and the competitors, identify the opportunities worth pursuing and the ones to leave aside, and build the go-to-market strategy. Then we manage the market with you: the chains, distributors and partners that matter, month after month. It is one continuing engagement, rather than a report that ends at delivery. In Europe, the same team also handles customs, VAT, import, stock and delivery.

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For
Brand owners, manufacturers, export agencies and distributors
Engagement
Ongoing Market Management
Markets
Europe, the United States and further markets
Operating base
Portugal, inside the EU customs union
Two people review a brand's product samples at a table while stock is picked and loaded in the warehouse behind them.

Every finding arrives with its source, so any claim in the work can be checked without asking EFC where it came from.

The practice

Four stages, one continuing engagement

Each stage feeds the next. Research shapes the strategy, the strategy chooses the accounts, and what buyers say each month can revise both.

  1. Research

    Market and competitor research, including how comparable brands entered or grew in the category and why some attempts failed.

    A sourced market and competitor study, market by market

  2. Strategy

    Where to go first, where not to go, and in what order, with the positioning, pricing logic and channel route for each market.

    The opportunities ranked, and the go-to-market strategy for your approval

  3. Decision makers

    The people who decide at the chains, distributors, importers and partners that matter, each with a contact route checked at handover.

    Named decision makers and checked routes

  4. Ongoing Market Management

    Outreach, follow-up, meetings and the pipeline, managed continuously between regular calls and reported in writing each month.

    The pipeline and the monthly report

Starting points

Entering a new market, or growing in one already served?

The method is the same for both. The starting brief differs, and the work begins from where the brand stands today.

Entry into a new market
The work begins with what the market requires before a first conversation: import and product rules, who holds the shelf and how its buyers decide.
Expansion in a market already served
The position the brand holds today: who carries it, at what price, and which channels sell it without being managed.
Further territories or channels
The agreements already in place, for a distributor or brand adding territory or a second channel beside the first.

Working together

Ongoing Market Management, or the research on its own

Both paths begin with the same research and strategy. They differ in whether the market is managed after delivery.

Ongoing Market Management
A monthly retainer on a twelve-month term, with a commission on the sales the work generates. The research and strategy are included, at EFC's expense.
The research on its own
The research and strategy bought alone and charged once, in full. The work ends at delivery, and management can be added later by agreement.

The full sequence, from signature to the monthly report, is set out in How the engagement runs.

Markets

Europe and the United States today

Our team has spent many years developing markets across a wide range of sectors, in the United States and Europe. The practice runs today in Europe and the United States, with further markets taken on as the work extends there.

Europe
Each agreed market researched and managed on its own terms, with import, customs, VAT, stock and delivery run from Portugal inside the EU customs union. Business development in Europe
The United States
Retailers, private-label ranges, brokers and national distributors, with review timing established account by account and supply planned with you. Business development in the United States
Further markets
The same research, strategy and management, taken on case by case where the product and the market justify it.

Fit

Where the work fits, and where it does not

The work needs a product with repeat demand, a buyer who can be identified and a way to supply that buyer.

Where one of these is missing, the first call says so, before any proposal is made.

The work fits when

  • The product needs a market worked continuously, not a single introduction.
  • The product sells through chains, distributors, importers or trade partners, with orders that repeat.
  • You can share product lines, trade pricing and buyer-facing material in English.
  • Supply can be planned from the start, including stock in Europe where the market needs it.

The work does not fit when

  • The product sells once per project, with no repeat order behind it.
  • The sale rests on clinical authority, which belongs with your own specialists.
  • The buyer requires a long record in that exact category, where a specialist firm with that history may serve better.
  • What is wanted is a contact list to use alone, or paid advertising.

In Europe

What happens to the goods once a buyer commits?

In Europe, the commercial work and the goods sit with the same team. EFC acts as importer of record, handles customs and VAT through fiscal representation, holds the stock and delivers.

A buyer's questions on lead time, the importer and returns are then answered inside the same relationship. The import and delivery work is quoted separately from the commercial engagement, and can start alongside it or later.

Stock is held in Portugal, inside the EU customs union. Most goods are released for free circulation as they arrive, with duty and import VAT paid then. Goods kept in a bonded warehouse pay both at each release.

Questions

Questions brands and companies ask

What is business development at EFC?

It is a continuing engagement for brands and companies entering new markets or growing in existing ones. It covers market and competitor research, go-to-market strategy, connections with decision makers and Ongoing Market Management.

What is the difference between market entry and market expansion?

Entry starts from the conditions a new market sets before a first buyer conversation: import rules, competitors and channel structure. Expansion starts from the position a brand already holds: who carries it, at what price and through which channels.

Which markets does EFC cover?

Europe and the United States today, with further markets taken on case by case. In Europe, the engagement connects to import, customs, VAT, stock and delivery from Portugal.

Who are the decision makers, and how are they reached?

Buyers, category managers and the executives who decide at chains, distributors, importers and partners. Each comes with the role that decides and a contact route checked at handover.

Does EFC buy the goods or act as a distributor?

No. EFC never buys, owns or resells the goods, which is what separates this from a distributor relationship. In Europe, EFC can act as importer of record while the brand keeps title throughout.

Does the engagement replace our own sales team?

No. Your team joins the conversations the work opens and takes every commercial decision. EFC carries the research, the preparation and the management between calls.

EFC

Business development at EFC

Describe the product and the markets in view. The reply sets out where the work would start, and whether it fits.

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