U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently announced that they have seized more than 3.4 million pieces of counterfeit party supplies. These products were from well known brands and had a retail value of over $4 million. It is clear that some of Customs Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) efforts are successful, but Zepol wonders what amount of pirated goods are never caught by authorities.

The U.S. Commerce Department also announced that they have launched a dumping investigation into the imports of commodity matchbooks from India. This comes close after an investigation of fasteners from China and Taiwan and the headline news of antidumping duties being placed on Chinese made tires. These are important actions for U.S. based manufacturers of these products, but could increase prices for U.S. consumers and businesses.

It will be interesting to see how the Obama administration prioritizes trade practices like those involved in IP and dumping cases. Recently, Commerce Secretary Locke pushed IPR on a trip to China, but dumping investigations are also a favorite subject of Labor. How this administration acts on these hot button trade topics in the next couple of months will be of great interest to importers and the companies that service them.

Zepol has been helping companies identify IPR violators and associated risks during the last several years and we have put some of these experiences in a case study, click here. We also have recently worked with several companies to document evidence in dumping cases to bring to the Department of Commerce. These are just some examples of how our customers are aggressively defending their businesses on multiple trade law fronts.

At Zepol, we are often asked how companies use our United States trade data. Since we have been providing many of the largest and most important companies involved in international trade the information they need for over five years, we have learned a multitude of ways that companies increase revenue, cut sourcing costs, cost effectively analyze their markets, and stop counterfeiters of their brands. Our experiences have shown that the uses of our trade data are endless.

To help the trade community to have a better understanding of how trade data can be used in their companies, we have developed several case studies based on our customers' experiences. Please download and read the case studies below or visit our case studies page on www.zepol.com.

• Competitive Intelligence for Importers
• Lead Prospecting at Transportation Companies
• Supplier Sourcing for U.S. Manufacturers
• Market Analysis of International Environments
• Legal and Brand Protection of International Intellectual Property

By reading these cases, many companies have begun to see how this information can help in their organizations. However, every situation is unique and this is why Zepol works closely with all of our customers to understand their needs and find solutions for both their trade data needs and their trade related problems.

One of the biggest reasons that importers use Zepol’s trade data is to find new suppliers of the products they import. This use of the data covers a significant portion of our user base and these users require a trade data tool that is much more than a report generating mechanism that some trade data providers sell. Supply chain professionals require a highly customizable system and have little use for reports that assign arbitrary scores that are determined by nebulous, internally held formulas.

So how are trade data users utilizing trade data to enhance their sourcing processes, reduce costs, and improve their results?

1. Sourcing country/region identification: There are a number of factors that go into identifying the right area of the world to purchase products from, like capacity, quality, and transportation costs. Using U.S. Census data, users can see the cost of products that were imported from each country they are investigating within about 6 weeks of shipment arrival. Take a look at the chart below to see an example of this type of analysis at a 10-digit HTS level:

HTS Code 7011.10.1000 Light Bulb Sourcing Location Prices YTD:
2. Finding companies providing the products: While there are sources available, like Alibaba and ThomasNet, where manufactures list their services, U.S. Customs data is the only source of information that can show what products companies have actually exported to the United States. The next step is to look at which companies exist in a sourcing county. Below is a graph of the top ten companies exporting light bulbs for 2009 taken from our U.S. Customs trade data tool, TradeIQ.

3. Evaluating suppliers: Once the user has developed a list of suppliers that they see as viable prospects for sourcing products, they then will begin to individually investigate each of them. They investigate the suppliers' exporting trends and view who their current customers are. They ensure suppliers can handle the volume that they will need to source. See the trend below for an example of this trend analysis:
4. Monitoring their supply agreements: Once a contract has been struck, using trade data does not stop. It is important to consistently monitor what your suppliers are exporting. If a company has agreements with suppliers regarding exclusive distribution, they make sure that suppliers are not working with other companies. U.S Customs trade data is the only source for this type of information at an individual company level detail.

Sourcing departments demand to have the ability to do dynamic trade data analysis that breaks through the typical search to report cycle. They look at trends of specific suppliers and dig into the details to understand for themselves what is going on. With this said, the sourcing process is complicated and additional information beyond trade data is needed that usually can only be gathered by internal data analysis, factory visits, discussions with the supplier, and reference checks.

One the biggest ways that Zepol's users utilize trade data in their companies is for competitive intelligence. They track their competitors and understand what suppliers other companies in their industry are working with. In addition, they look at the products that they import to better understand their marketplace. Competitive intelligence, at its core, is about making better decisions by having accurate, actionable information.

The Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) defines competitive intelligence as:

"Competitive intelligence is a systematic and ethical program for gathering, analyzing, and managing any combination of Data, Information, and Knowledge concerning the Business environment in which a company operates that, when acted upon, will confer a significant Competitive advantage or enable sound decisions to be made. Its primary role is Strategic early warning."

Trade data, specifically U.S. Customs data, is a great example of a competitive intelligence resource. The best trade data tools allow users to gather, analyze, and manage shipment information within a robust application and that is extremely important for companies involved in international trade. This data allows companies to make smarter decisions based off of accurate information, and the companies that implement trade data into their decision process make better decisions about product development, sourcing, sales, and trade management.

The final piece that competitive intelligence professionals use U.S. Customs trade data is as a reliable early warning system. Below are several examples from trade data users on how they use U.S. Customs data to warn them before it is too late:

• Within days they can see that a competitor has shifted to another supplier. If they shifted to new country they can even estimate the price of the products using U.S. Census data.
• They can spot prototype shipments months before products hit store shelves, fully understanding where it will be manufactured.
• Seeing shipment trends that can show if a company is forecasting lower or higher sales in the coming months, deducing when products will be available on the market.
• They know if a new competitor has entered their space allowing them to take action quickly.