Online clothing business shipping from DR

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Expat13

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Jun 7, 2008
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I have an American colleague/entrepreneur who is quite successful in many businesses. One being selling top name brand clothing retail in some cities in North America as well online.

For whatever reason I cannot yet understand he wants to set up a warehouse here and sell mainly online to Latin American regions as well have a inventory blowout sale every 2 months to purge unsold inventory.

From what i understand these are overruns of original name brand clothing lines and they seem to do well with this model.
Before I did the usual why the DR, its the most difficult to do anything speech. I thought out of respect I would run the question through the infamous DR1 gambit!

They would send containers of clothing here, unpack and ship to the end user purchaser. The ecommerce and online structure is already in place in Canada/USA.
Has anyone here tried a shipping product from DR model before?
 
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The Weather Is Here

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May 20, 2012
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Interestingly, I just bought a name brand top at the San Juan Mall here in Bavaro. When I went to remove the label (hate them!) before wearing, noticed that sewn in was another label saying "SAMPLE". So it's being done here at retail.
 
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Expat13

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Jun 7, 2008
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The Weather Is Here said:
Interestingly, I just bought a name brand top at the San Juan Mall here in Bavaro. When I went to remove the label (hate them!) before wearing, noticed that sewn in was another label saying "SAMPLE". So it's being done here at retail.
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Yes the local style will do whatever to gain the most $$$$ no doubt a buyer beware. That said, was it the real thing, or a knockoff?
 
cobraboy

cobraboy

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Expat13 said:
I have an American colleague/entrepreneur who is quite successful in many businesses. One being selling top name brand clothing retail in some cities in North America as well online.

For whatever reason I cannot yet understand he wants to set up a warehouse here and sell mainly online to Latin American regions as well have a inventory blowout sale every 2 months to purge unsold inventory.

From what i understand these are overruns of original name brand clothing lines and they seem to do well with this model.
Before I did the usual why the DR, its the most difficult to do anything speech. I thought out of respect I would run the question through the infamous DR1 gambit!

They would send containers of clothing here, unpack and ship to the end user purchaser. The ecommerce and online structure is already in place in Canada/USA.
Has anyone here tried a shipping product from DR model before?
Click to expand...
I have a good friend who has established a very modern Free Zone model with contracts with several name brand companies.

After manufacturing the products, he boxes them for the end-user store in the states, address labels pre-printed for UPS, FedEx ground or USPS, depending on the company's choice.

These boxes are then put in a 40' container, each container with a mail-drop destination (USPS, UPS, FedEx) for further distribution.

This works because of massive volume and pre-arranged bulk shipping.

I don't see how that model could work for individual purchases---or even small lot store purchases---destined for numerous international destinations..
 
T

The Weather Is Here

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I believe it was the real thing. It is a store that offers many name brands from USA at discount prices. And I did notice that all they seemed to have was size small in most everything, which is typical for samples. They had several color variations of this top and it is well made. I don't mind if it's a sample since the price was right. Just lucky I wear a small most of the time!
 
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Expat13

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Jun 7, 2008
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cobraboy said:
I have a good friend who has established a very modern Free Zone model with contracts with several name brand companies.

After manufacturing the products, he boxes them for the end-user store in the states, address labels pre-printed for UPS, FedEx ground or USPS, depending on the company's choice.

These boxes are then put in a 40' container, each container with a mail-drop destination (USPS, UPS, FedEx) for further distribution.

This works because of massive volume and pre-arranged bulk shipping.

I don't see how that model could work for individual purchases---or even small lot store purchases---destined for numerous international destinations..
Click to expand...

Remind me of the adversities of why individual purchase and fedex/ups wouldnt work originating from the DR
 
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Dolores1

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May 3, 2000
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Expat13 said:
I have an American colleague/entrepreneur who is quite successful in many businesses. One being selling top name brand clothing retail in some cities in North America as well online.

For whatever reason I cannot yet understand he wants to set up a warehouse here and sell mainly online to Latin American regions as well have a inventory blowout sale every 2 months to purge unsold inventory.

From what i understand these are overruns of original name brand clothing lines and they seem to do well with this model.
Before I did the usual why the DR, its the most difficult to do anything speech. I thought out of respect I would run the question through the infamous DR1 gambit!

They would send containers of clothing here, unpack and ship to the end user purchaser. The ecommerce and online structure is already in place in Canada/USA.
Has anyone here tried a shipping product from DR model before?
Click to expand...

A plus for this business would be the many airline connections already in place because of the booming tourism flow from Latin America. That means there is the cargo space.

As suggested, I think this model would work best if operating from a duty free industrial free zone.

Your friend could consider locating himself where he can easily use the Punta Cana International Airport that has the most flights.

There are no free zones in the area -- closest being in La Romana. But there are special regimes that are sometimes granted to businesses outside of free zone parks. Something to definitely look into.
 
cobraboy

cobraboy

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Dolores said:
A plus for this business would be the many airline connections already in place because of the booming tourism flow from Latin America. That means there is the cargo space.

As suggested, I think this model would work best if operating from a duty free industrial free zone.

Your friend could consider locating himself where he can easily use the Punta Cana International Airport that has the most flights.

There are no free zones in the area -- closest being in La Romana. But there are special regimes that are sometimes granted to businesses outside of free zone parks. Something to definitely look into.
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There may be outbound cargo space, but it would still be prohibitively expensive, especially considering the market: end user consumer. EPS and other courier services use airfreight for most of their shipments, and look at the outbound prices---AND they have to connect with another service in the states or elsewhere for additional costs.
 
CristoRey

CristoRey

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cobraboy said:
I have a good friend who has established a very modern Free Zone model with contracts
with several name brand companies. After manufacturing the products, he boxes them for the end-user store in the states..
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I?m curious, does your friend own/ operate a garment manufacturing company down here?
 
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windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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Expat13 said:
Remind me of the adversities of why individual purchase and fedex/ups wouldnt work originating from the DR
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Shipping costs that will eliminate the possibility of making a profit for individual purchases. Not one person to date has posted that they found a shipping service out of the DR for such purchases that makes such a business possible.
 
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LTSteve

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Jul 9, 2010
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Expat13 said:
I have an American colleague/entrepreneur who is quite successful in many businesses. One being selling top name brand clothing retail in some cities in North America as well online.

For whatever reason I cannot yet understand he wants to set up a warehouse here and sell mainly online to Latin American regions as well have a inventory blowout sale every 2 months to purge unsold inventory.

From what i understand these are overruns of original name brand clothing lines and they seem to do well with this model.
Before I did the usual why the DR, its the most difficult to do anything speech. I thought out of respect I would run the question through the infamous DR1 gambit!

They would send containers of clothing here, unpack and ship to the end user purchaser. The ecommerce and online structure is already in place in Canada/USA.
Has anyone here tried a shipping product from DR model before?
Click to expand...

It sounds like you would have to have either a distribution warehouse or a location in a free zone. Free zone may allow you to ship out of the DR duty free. You might have to do some actual construction of the product in the DR to meet requirements. This could be as simple as sewing a new label on the clothing and then ship. You most likely would have to travel to Santo Domingo and meet with Government officials to get the requirements to do business in the DR. Good luck and good travels.
 
cobraboy

cobraboy

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LTSteve said:
It sounds like you would have to have either a distribution warehouse or a location in a free zone. Free zone may allow you to ship out of the DR duty free. You might have to do some actual construction of the product in the DR to meet requirements. This could be as simple as sewing a new label on the clothing and then ship. You most likely would have to travel to Santo Domingo and meet with Government officials to get the requirements to do business in the DR. Good luck and good travels.
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The #1 barrier to entry is shipping costs outside of the island, unless shipping a full 40' container to one location. Otherwise, that's the deal killer.
 
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windeguy

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cobraboy said:
The #1 barrier to entry is shipping costs outside of the island, unless shipping a full 40' container to one location. Otherwise, that's the deal killer.
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CB, Clearly stated. As I have said before, nobody has a shipping service allowing you to economically send small shipments off the island. The shipping costs prohibit such a business.
 
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