Congratulations, you want to become an importer of Home Decor and Household Decoration Items. You are about to embark on a journey of discovery.

To import home decor household decoration items, you must first understand what you will import. Home decor and household items are a huge and vast category of products. Next, you must fully understand who you will buy the products from through product sourcing. Then, you must fully understand your landed cost to bring that product into your country and sell it. And finally, you need to know where and how you will sell the product or what platform you will use.

Table of Contents

• Our 5 Basic Steps To Import Home Decor and Household Decoration Items
  • Step 1 – Know What You Are Going To Import
  • Step 2 – Source Your Home Decor Or Household Item
  • Step 3 – Costing Your Home Decor Or Household Item
    • Listen To Our Podcast 5 Tips To Source And Import Products To Sell below or by clicking here.
  • Step 4 – Get A Sample Of Your Home Decor Or Household Item
  • Step 5 – Understand Where And How You Will Sell It
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Related Content
  • Where do you buy home decor items for retail or your online store?
  • An Insider Guide To Where Home Decor Stores Get Merchandise
  • Why Home Decor Matters? 10 Reasons Why Home Decor is Important

Our 5 Basic Steps To Import Home Decor and Household Decoration Items

To successfully import home decor and household decoration items, it’s crucial to identify the specific products you intend to import, considering the extensive variety in this category. Next, it’s essential to establish a clear understanding of your suppliers through effective product sourcing.

Calculating the total landed cost for importing these products into your country is essential for financial planning. Lastly, it would be best if you had a strategy for where and how you will market and sell these products, including choosing the right sales platform..

Read on to learn about the five steps to import home decor products

Step 1 – Know What You Are Going To Import

The first thing you need to do when importing home decor and household decoration items is understand what you are looking to import. Both home decor and household items have a wide range of products.

We suggest that the very first thing you do is research to understand what products you want to start with and why you want to start with those items,

During this stage, you need to do some of the following:

• Competitive Analysis – Research how competitive the products that you are looking to bring into the marketplace. Do you have a lot of competitors or only a few?

• Prices – In your research, discover what price points are competitors bringing in these products and selling them for. If someone is selling a product for 1 USD and you are hoping to sell the same product for 10 USD, it may be hard for you to get sales.

• Design – Are you offering a unique design or look that can warrant this product being sold in the marketplace?

At this first stage, you need to do all your competitive analysis. By the time you are completed your in-depth research, you should have an idea of what price you need to sell your product, where you will sell, and your differentiation or makes your product unique and different from someone else’s product.

Step 2 – Source Your Home Decor Or Household Item

Next, you need to source your home decor or household items. As you already have an idea of what you are going to import and what price you will need it to be, you need to find someone who can help you manufacture the product.

Finding a manufacturer is not always easy, especially if you are new to sourcing products for importation. There are, of course, things that you can do to try to find someone to manufacture your product:

• Do An Internet Search – Search on the Internet. Today, most companies who are manufacturers, and suppliers are on the internet. Try to search a few different keywords and ways to see what comes up each time you search.

• Check Other Sites – Many other sites out there specialize in export or manufacturing, such as Alibaba and Made in China, to name a few. Many of these sites work with huge manufacturers, and many of those manufacturers may want a substantial quantity.

• Find An Agent – Search online for an agent or someone to help you find the products. A good thing about an agent is that they have the contacts; because of that, they can usually help you get what you need.

Once you have been able to source your products, you are part of the way there to import them.

Step 3 – Costing Your Home Decor Or Household Item

The next thing you need to do is understand how much it will cost you to buy the product and how much it will cost you to import it. This again is a difficult thing to figure out because it requires a lot of knowledge and understanding.

• Understand Your Cost – You need first to understand the cost and terms that the supplier has quoted you. Did they quote you X works, FOB, or CIF? These different terms make a difference in what is included and what you need to pay. In my experience, most suppliers quote a FOB term.

• Freight Rates Are Constantly Changing – Freight rates are constantly changing. This has been especially true the last few months with container shortages, overloaded ports, and increasing gas prices. Find yourself a very good shipping forwarder or agent who can help you get an estimated price for the shipping and other costs.

• Figure Out The Duties And Taxes – Along with the freight, you need to understand any duties or taxes. If the supplier has quoted you X works, you need to figure this out on their side and how much it will cost you to bring it into your country. These things can change from Product to Product and Country to Country. We recommend that you get yourself a good forwarder who knows and understands all these things and can help you figure out the landed costs.

• Warehouse And Shipping To Customer – Want to know how much the import will cost the next? You need to be able to understand your other costs. Will you bring it in-store and ship it out yourself, or will you use a company that will bring it in-store for you and help you ship it out? All of these make a difference in the final cost to the consumer.

Today, many products, especially home decor and household items, still come from China; in the United States, many Chinese goods have a 25% or more significant duty tax. You need to check this carefully as duties, tariffs, and other things with important rules are also constantly changing. 

Because shipping can be complicated, we feel it is best if you can find an agent in your own country to help you navigate this. Find yourself a forwarder who can help you with the shipping and the importation, duties, and other things you will need to know and understand. 

Listen To Our Podcast 5 Tips To Source And Import Products To Sell below or by clicking here.

Step 4 – Get A Sample Of Your Home Decor Or Household Item

Once you know what you’re going to buy, what price you are going to buy it, and how much it’s going to cost you to bring it in and get it to your customer, the next thing you should do is get a sample of the product you are looking to purchase.

If the factory makes the product to your specifications, mold and other charges could be incurred to produce a sample for you. Even if product development costs are expensive, we feel this is worth it as it will help save you a lot of headaches down the road.

If you are going to buy something, you should get a sample and see it in person to know exactly what you are buying. Seeing an actual sample will allow you to look and check for things such as packaging, branding, and other important things for your ability to sell your product.

Some people try to skip the step and want to place an order without seeing the product firsthand. In all my years of manufacturing home decor at home furnishing products, I have found that it can be a disaster if someone doesn’t see the product beforehand. 

I highly recommend seeing the product, feeling it, touching it, and understanding exactly what you are buying before purchasing it.

Step 5 – Understand Where And How You Will Sell It

You also need to understand how you’re going to sell this product. Will you sell it online, and if so, what platforms will you use?

I have found that getting noticed online and getting people to find your product online is not as easy as most people think. It takes time and effort to get seen on Etsy or Amazon. It takes a lot of work to get to the top of their search results.

Most companies that are successful with importing and selling products online are also companies that have been doing it for a long time. They have built a base, and they have a track record. If you are starting completely new, you must understand that this step can take extra time and effort.

There were many steps involved in being able to import a home decor or household item. It requires that you fully understand your cost, what price you can sell it for, and where you will be selling it.

At Mondoro, we would love to talk to you to see how we can help you. Find out more about how Mondoro can help you create, develop, and manufacture excellent home decor and home furniture products – don’t hesitate to contact me, Anita. Check out my email by clicking here, or join our community and join our newsletter by clicking here.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Related Content

Where do you buy home decor items for retail or your online store?

If you are looking to start an online or retail store, one of the most significant issues that most people face is knowing where to buy the home decor items for their online or retail store. We have been producing home decor products for over 20 years; we have experience in knowing where to buy home decor items.

You can discover more by reading Where To Buy Home Decor Items For Retail Or Your Online Store? by clicking here.

An Insider Guide To Where Home Decor Stores Get Merchandise

Some of the best home decor stores that we have been and will use a mix of these different types of buying methods. In other words, they will buy some great-looking products from wholesalers, they will have some products they have manufactured or source themselves, and then they will bring in some local craftsmen and sell their products. This gives the stores a unique mix and look.

To learn more you can read An Insider Guide To Where Home Decor Stores Get Merchandise by clicking here.

Why Home Decor Matters? 10 Reasons Why Home Decor is Important

Home Decor matters since how our home is decorated can and will affect all aspects of our lives. Our homes show the world who we are and what is important to us. Our home decor can affect our physical and mental well-being. Our homes are also a gathering place for our families, friends, and loved ones.

You can discover more by reading Why Home Decor Matters? 10 Reasons Why Home Decor is Important by clicking here.