Recently, I was looking at several software vendors that have the same type of business model that Zepol uses, software as a service (SAAS). I grew frustrated with a couple of the providers because they would not offer a free trial of their service before I purchased a subscription. Frankly, buying a product like Zepol's, a several thousand dollar yearly investment, without trying it for yourself first is like purchasing a car without a test drive or house sight unseen.

How, as a decision maker, are you supposed to make an informed choice on whether the product will meet your needs without first having it in your hands? While video demonstrations provide a nice picture of what a product can do and some of the functionality, in the end, they are a commercial made for selling you on the glossy features. Companies often produce these even before they have a fully functional application to sell, thus videos hide almost every real life usage scenario that you will do in the course of your subscription. Making a purchasing decision completely based off watching a video is simply uninformed and, in a business environment, irresponsible.

Other companies provide in-person or web demonstrations of the products. These are much more realistic than video demonstrations, but still can be gamed to show you, as the prospect, an unrealistic view. Not every company selling SAAS products are honest when they provide face-to-face demonstrations. Some use a separate database from the one given to customers to conceal a slow or buggy application. I have learned that it is sometimes necessary to ask the sales person to login using the same application that I would have access to.

At the end of the day, it is essential that when purchasing a SAAS product, trade data tool or otherwise, to insist on using the actual product that you are purchasing before you sign any contracts. Use videos to get an idea of what a product does and let a sales person in a face-to-face or web demonstration show you what it can do, but insist on a free trial to ensure a product will meet your needs.

If a company does not provide any of these methods of viewing a product, especially a free trial, ask yourself, "What is this company hiding?" and "Why are they afraid to invest so little in me as a prospect before I give them my company’s money?" In addition, if they do not provide options for free trials, demonstrations, or videos on their website, "How serious about this business are they?"

As you can see from our website, Zepol provides each of these methods for learning about our products, but we have always done so, considering it as an honest, open business practice. We have video demonstrations, the ability to participate in personalized webinars, and, of course, a live free trial of TradeIQ, check out www.zepol.com for more information.

We recently asked our customers to tell us how they are using the U.S. Customs and Census data that we provide through our TradeIQ and TradeView products. I thought I’d pull out a few of them for everyone to see.

Purchasing Director at an Agro Products company

"So far, I have used Zepol's information on imports of 2 commodity products that we produce and sell as well as purchase and sell. In both product cases, imports are a significant proportion of the available supply to our U.S. market. Therefore, knowing which competitors are bringing in product as well as the overall total amount being imported enables us to quickly ascertain where the overall market balance is and what the implications for pricing are. Commodity markets are all about supply/demand balances. When there is too much, prices move down and vice versa. Knowing who is doing what and how much overall are key factors in determining future market direction."

Partner at an International Law Firm

"Recently, I used Zepol to prove that my client had ceased importing specific products. I was in court at the time and during a brief recess was able to pull up the data needed to show both the judge and the plaintiff. With this evidence, the case was dismissed and I was able to save my client thousands in a law suit and additional legal costs."

Sales Coordinator at a Freight Forwarder

"We use Zepol as a source of sales leads. We are a freight forwarding company and we send reports to our sales people of different consignee's to contact about handling their freight. It is very helpful for us because we are able to see the countries the consignee's import from and even the supplier names. This way, our salespeople are knowledgeable on the consignee's traffic before they call them to offer our services. We also use Zepol to get an idea of the volumes some companies bring in on a yearly basis."

Manager at a Chemical and Plastics company

"There is no U.S. manufacturer for the material that I import. With Zepol, I can track exactly the volume of this kind of material coming into the US. Therefore, I know exactly the size of the market, our competitors share, and which grades of these materials come into the US. I also know where it is going to."

These examples are just a few of the many ways that our customers use our data on a daily basis. To see more examples of what customers have to say about our trade data products, check out our testimonials page.

The U.S. Census Bureau released their Merchandise Trade data numbers on May 12th, 2009. The numbers are mixed, but show signs of stabilization of the United States trade economy. The trade deficit increased to $33.3 billion from $28.5 billion in February, but was down nearly 43% from March 2008.

While some of these numbers are encouraging, it is important to note that trade was down across the board. To help illustrate our monthly trade data results more effectively, we will be producing an overview of the U.S. Census numbers when they are released by the government. The first edition of this analysis is shown linked below in a PDF document.

Click here for Zepol’s U.S. Census Merchandise Trade Data Update for March 2009

Please let us know what you think of this document in the comments section and if you would like to see any additional information. I will pull them out in a future blog entry. If you would like to see further information or want do some analysis on your own, please visit our homepage, www.zepol.com, and request a free trial or demonstration.

U.S. Customs completed the trade data for the month of April last week. The numbers are beginning to look more encouraging as stability appears to have replaced turbulence. April’s shipments were even with March (less than one percent increase), but not surprisingly April’s results are significantly down from April 2008. The 13.6% decrease in the number of House shipments is another indicator of how different this year is from last.

Below is a table showing the port regions that are growing or shrinking:
As you can see, Asia is consistent with the overall decrease. However, Europe showed the biggest decrease as U.S. importers continue to respond to the new paradigm of frugality amongst U.S. consumers. European shippers will continue to see low shipment levels until the economy fully recovers. Asia and South/Central America will be the first areas to see an increase because of cost implications due to labor and transportation.

Zepol's U.S. Customs trade data is taken from Bills of Lading entered into the Automated Manifest System. The information represents the number of House manifests entered by importers of waterborne containerized goods. This indicator is the earliest data available for the previous month’s trade activity.