SPONSORED CONTENT Make Global Feel Local How a Local Merch Business Turned into a Global Provider The Nearly Missed Deal. A distributor who had never shipped outside the US before was called by their biggest client. A global rebrand. 90 countries. 65,000 items. Simultaneous delivery. They had 48 hours to say yes or no. International shipping means classifications, compliance, potential customs holds, duties, and penalties. A different set of regulatory rules in every market. Most distributors simply don’t have the infrastructure to say yes to a brief like this. The Global Opportunity “We are seeing a rise in large corporations requesting fulfillment capabilities to global locations, especially with off-site events,” says Eben Vorster, TecEx MD. Large corporates prefer dealing with a single vendor for local and international projects. They also don’t want to handle the import hassle or take on the associated entity risk. They want one relationship, one point of accountability, and one delivery. However, shipping internationally comes with a range of complexities. “In essence, every distributor would require their own in-house compliance team to be able to manage international shipments at scale,” says Vorster. For many distributors, not only is this often not feasible, but it is also unnecessary. Each category of shipped item has its own classification and, with it, a suite of compliance and regulatory requirements that vary from border to border. Merchandise often gets stuck in customs due to misclassification, mislabelling, or unknowingly breaking regulatory requirements. This not only results in launch delays but can also put your company at risk of financial penalties. Not only will this impact your bottom line, but it can damage your relationship with your client. The Brief 90 countries 65,000 items Simultaneous delivery “We had to work backward from the deadline to get all the country-specific requirements in place. We worked with the distributor to determine which items to choose so that we would avoid not being able to import some or getting some stuck in customs”. TecEx managed the entire project, from customs clearance and international regulatory compliance to payment of duties and taxes across all 90 markets. Every item arrived. No shipments were held. The rebrand launched on schedule.” “Ninety countries, 65,000 items, one deadline, and not a single shipment stuck in customs. Partnering with TecEx means you never have to turn down a deal. You have a partner to support you on all global orders so you can become the single vendor your clients need,” says Menachem Wolf, Head of Promotional Goods at TecEx. From Local to Global TecEx removes the hurdles of international shipping. Operating across 200 destinations, TecEx can manage the entire project, from customs clearance to international regulatory compliance, to duties and taxes. For promotional products distributors, that means one thing: you can say yes to any brief, anywhere in the world, and deliver. Make the move from local to global with TecEx. Menachem Wolf promogoods@tecex.com Artistdesign.13 / Shutterstock.com The N A dist outside their big countrie delivery or no. Intern classific customs differen market. have the brief lik The G “We a corpora capabili especial Eben Vo Large single ve projects handle t associat relation and one internat of comp “In es require team to shipmen many di not feas Each its own suite of requirem border. in custo mislabe regulato results i Artistdesign.13 / Shutterstock.com 14 • AUGUST 2026 •
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