For the past few months I’ve been working importing electronics/e-commerce in Ecuador. Would y’all like me to make a thread about doing business in Ecuador?

Been a bit busy and couldn’t make this thread till now. Doing business I’m Ecuador has both disadvantages and advantages. I’ll start with the disadvantages.

There’s a lot of red tape and it’s very slow to register your business and even begin. Also the taxes and duties are high 12% is paid on everything that’s imported and also when items are sold. To make it in imports you must have a large scale to offset costs.

Tech is also lagging: mobile payments don’t really exist here and there’s an extra charge for using credit cards. Many people prefer paying cash which I’ve had to adapt to.

The pandemic really impacted Ecuador and my business as well. I wasn’t able to travel to Ecuador for a very long time.

Now for advantages. Ecuador was late to adapt to e-commerce so I had an upper hand on competitors. Few shops actually have a working websites and the ability to take payments. My design and marketing skills also have been much better than the competition.

Ecuador imports more than it exports. Ecuador doesn’t manufacture electronics thus electronics are one of the largest import categories by value. I saw this statistic a few years ago and decided to act on it.

Ecuador also lacks retail fronts from large retailers like Nike and Apple. People get these products from family or importers who bring them to Ecuador.

I created a luxury brand and began importing apparel and electronics. Electronics really took off and were easier to scale.

Customers loved my business because I offered great customer service, fast shipping, and competitive prices. I’m one of the only online stores that has electronics ready to be shipped out. People liked the speed and quality of my products.

Although I’ve had success thus far, it’s slower and harder to scale this business. The logistics of moving products from one country to another requires multiple points of contact and security.