Eighty Costa Rican companies have already integrated into Amazon’s online sales, through a program coordinated by the Foreign Trade Promoter (Procomer) to sell their products in the United States.
Of those companies, at least 40 have already made sales, said Laura Quesada, Procomer’s export promoter and e-commerce manager.
Costa Rican products now available for purchase in the U.S. are coffee, wood products, jewelry, and cacao (cocoa) among others by companies looking for new markets by way of the Amazon platform.
Grupo Sur was the most recent and the first chemical firm to join the program.
Quesada explained that the program began in 2013 when Procomer began talking to Amazon. In 2015 and 2015 eleven companies were trained, by 2016 the number of companies trained was 98 and this year, due to stricter requirements, only 30 companies joined the training program.
The official explained in complying with the process, that includes training by Procomer in coordination with Costa Rica Amazon, only 80 companies (the majority Pymes – small and medium sized businesses) so far have products online.
An aspect of the training is to help companies understand that e-commerce is not simply placing a product on Amazon and then idly standing by, while their products getting lost in the vastness. Quesada points out that companies are recommended to advertise within Amazon itself, although it implies additional cost and to constantly review their site keeping an eye on customer behavior and trends.
Quesada added that the training program also deals with the procedures for the opening of bank accounts to receive payments and tax implications, such as U.S. tax requirements for foreign companies.
