u/DapperDescription137

Planning to start exporting construction materials from India...currently exploring categories where India is actually price competitive.

I already know ceramics/tiles are strong and have identified some regions too, but curious what other products could have any potential?

Considering things like:

• stone/granite
• Sanitary ware
• engineered wood - not sure about this
• hardware/fittings
• industrial chemicals
• prefabricated materials

Can anyone help with knowledge of importing/exporting in this space or working in EU construction procurement.

Are there any products that are actually competitive in pricing?

There are hundreds of posts about "AI in procurement". Many startups are coming up with their "AI tools for procurement", they have a super fancy website, millions in funding, but once you figure out what these startups do you realise its something as simple as an ERP.

Not demeaning anyone here, the startups that are doing this have put a lot of effort and time, their UI/UX is amazing, they are solving problems for a lottt of manufacturers.

>However, I am extremely curious to know that WHAT are the REAL problems that people here think should be solved by AI or any SaaS tool.

I mean we all get this thought right? "I wish there was a tool for this".

Just throwing an open ended question here.

>I’ve been speaking to a few U.S. buyers recently who’ve actively tried sourcing from India (not just considered it), and the feedback is surprisingly consistent.

Not capability issues in most cases.

More like:

• slower / inconsistent quoting
• difficulty shortlisting the right suppliers
• uneven technical conversations depending on who you land on
• more effort stitching together inspection + logistics
• sample quality was different than the actual order
• vendor failed in the due diligence

At the same time, there’s clearly more interest now around diversification / China+1.

So I’m curious from people here who’ve actually gone through it:

Did it actually work for you?

OR

If it didnt, what was the issue and what did you change?