Global Trade: Food and Wine

for Straw Hat Trading Company, LLC

Global trade in wines and specialty food products was trending up in 2012. The demand for European and American wines in China was high. Canadian and Australian wines were at the top of Chinese buyer’s lists. Market timing seemed good. The company partners began preparations for an initial product offering.

The business focus was sales of full and partial container loads to distributors and large corporate buyers. Marketing to retail outlets in China was designed to create demand. Designing the pricing models was a challenge. Products might be purchased from suppliers in Euros, US Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Australian Dollars and sold in Chinese Yuan (RMB), US Dollars, or Euros. Settlement terms were defined in US Dollars.

Working collaboratively on two continents (North America and Asia) with suppliers on three continents required a cloud solution. There had to be a public facing site to provide basic information. An intranet to share files, create schedules, track contacts, and manage the products was essential. As it became necessary, a secure tracking portal to manage shipments would be needed.

SharePoint provided all these options natively. A hosted SharePoint site was obtained, designed and configured.

Multiple currencies were a challenge for the company. Euros, US Dollars, and Chinese RMB were the primary denominations. The Product List used custom views, a linked reference list and calculated fields to deliver a comprehensive solution in all three currencies.

Skills

SharePoint 2010, SharePoint Designer, Project Management, Design, Custom Coding, Photoshop, CSS, HTML, Mandarin, Pricing, Supply Chain, Import / Export regulations (US, Italy, China), Negotiation, Sales, Marketing, Packaging