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BLOOM Dead Sea Gift Enterprise |
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BLOOM Dead Sea Gift Enterprise, located in
Amman, Jordan, specializes in health and beauty products based on a “unique
combination of more than 25 types of minerals and trace elements from the best
and largest reservoir of minerals in the world, the Dead Sea.” Established in
1993, the company started with the marketing of three items: the Dead Sea bath
salts, the facial mud mask, and the body mud mask. Today, the BLOOM collection
has expanded to eighteen different products and the company now exports to more
than twenty-one countries, including the United States.
Initiative, drive, and networking have been the
major factors to BLOOM’s success. In order to inform the world of their product
and to develop contacts internationally, BLOOM branched out in several ways:
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BLOOM developed a company
website that introduced the company to the international
market electronically and has produced sales through electronic commerce.
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BLOOM is a member of many associations within
Jordan and internationally, including Amman Chamber of Industry, Jordan Export
and Development Centers, Business and Professional Women Association-Amman, Arab
International Women Forum-London, and Trade Leaders Club-Spain. Through
membership in these associations, they have pursued contacts and potential
buyers.
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Representatives from BLOOM routinely attend
local and international
conferences, trade shows, and expos, which promote the company and develop
contacts.
It was through an international company trade
show in Paris in 2001 that BLOOM developed contacts in the United States market.
A group of marketing consultants visited their booth at the trade show and,
after learning about their products, discussed the desire to pursue business
with BLOOM.
Before BLOOM could export to the United States,
the product line needed to be examined in terms of United States cosmetic
regulations, packaging appeal, and marketing of the products. With the
assistance of Jordan United States Business Partnership (JUSBP), a group of
United States cosmetic professionals specializing in cosmetic lines, cosmetic
marketing, and cosmetic regulations examined the products. This group compiled
their recommendations as to what BLOOM needed to do in order to enter their
product in the United States market and to effectively compete with other
products. Upon BLOOM’s request, JUSBP also provided them with a complete booklet
on cosmetic regulations in the United States. Based upon the group’s
recommendations and the cosmetic regulations provided by JUSBP, BLOOM readjusted
their line for export to the United States, received United States Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) approval, and started exporting commercial quantities of
their product to the United States in 2002.
The exporting and marketing of BLOOM products in
the United States started small, displaying and selling products on specialty
carts in shopping malls, and expanded from there. United States marketing
consultants found people interested in selling BLOOM products and provided them
with training in order to correctly and effectively sell the products. BLOOM’s
United States contacts handled all of the United States importation
documentation and requirements for the company.
“Exporting our products to the United States
became easier with the implementation of the United States-Jordan Free Trade
Agreement,” stated Elham Zeadat, General Manager of BLOOM Dead Sea Gift
Enterprise. Ms. Zeadat learned about the FTA through presentations by JUSBP, the
American Chamber of Commerce in Jordan (JABA) , Jordan Export Development and
Commercial Centers Corporation (JEDCO), as well as through a FTA brochures
package provided by JABA. Seeing this as an opportunity for BLOOM, she took it
from there. Since the implementation of the FTA, BLOOM’s exports to the United
States have totaled $110,000.00 and additional exports to the United States are
anticipated in the near future.
BLOOM: winner of the Golden Europe Award for Quality-2001 and
the Arab Quality Award-July 2002. Eng. Elham Zeadat, General Manager of
BLOOM Dead Sea Gift Enterprise and Winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year
Award-2002.
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