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Many foreign companies look to the US to expand their sales and foothold. However, ensuring their products comply with US regulations can be a convoluted process. Numerous regulations, guidelines, classifications, and codes need to be considered. To complicate matters further, what is valid in one US state could be invalid in another.
Hiring regulatory experts who can advise companies on shipping, storage, and other regulations costs a pretty penny. It may also be difficult to identify the right talent or consultant to begin with. All of these headaches can make for a messy transition into the US market—and deter younger brands with limited resources from taking the leap at all.
Our client, a boutique Seoul-based beauty brand, successfully pitched and secured shelf space with one of the largest and most popular warehouse clubs in the world. It was a pivotal opportunity to sell thousands of units at the retailer’s locations across the US.
However, the brand had limited experience with shipping and selling their products in the US. There were new regulations to consider, for instance whether their products could be shipped by air without certification, and if the ingredients in their formulations are approved in the US. Given the importance of entering the US market, the brand considered hiring an FTE Regulatory Expert, a cost they hadn’t anticipated. It seemed overcoming these regulatory hurdles would delay their exciting opportunity to land on US shelves. The brand was eager to find a simpler, more cost-effective way forward rather than navigate the process on their own for the first time.
Fortunately, the retailer required the beauty brand to register their products with SmarterX as part of the intake process. By inputting a few pieces of publicly-available information about their products into our Product Intelligence Platform™, the team in Seoul was able to obtain fast and accurate classifications for hazardous waste, transportation, storage, and other critical compliance requirements. Within days, the brand had completed the retailer’s compliance requirements and was ready to ship its products—all without engaging a regulatory expert.
SmarterX is focused on making product registration and compliance easy for brands, so brands can focus on growing their sales. In less than five minutes, our technology can evaluate a product against more than 7,000 regulations and a business’ unique rules. Our user-friendly Product Intelligence Platform™ quickly provided the critical information this retailer needed, helping the brand enter the US marketplace frictionlessly. SmarterX is a game-changer for small brands that don’t have deep pockets for consultants or a large regulatory team to rely on.