I have been following the Panjiva blog for some time now, I think what they're doing is pretty cool. Today they unveiled a new tool: Panjiva Trends.
According to their blog, Panjiva Trends "will give you insight into the trajectory of U.S. imports of various products. Type in any product, and you will see how U.S. imports of that product have been trending over the last few years — up through the end of the most recent month. You will also see which countries are shipping more of the product compared to last year and which countries are shipping less. "
I'm a data nerd, so yes, I have been periodically thinking of things to type in today to see the chart and the especially-cool map of which countries have increased shipments of the items and which have decreased.
For now the tool is free, so check out the trends in your imports and give Panjiva feedback on how to improve. After a month, they will start charging- so enjoy it while it lasts.
Using this data, Panjiva has come up with a list of estimated holiday hits & misses. Hits include Snuggies, Toy Story, Chocolate truffles, and Zhu Zhu Pets (whatever those are.) Misses include High School Musical, Hannah Montana, and Digital Picture Frame. Guess I have to return the combo High School Musical/Hannah Montana digital picture frame I got for my mom.
US Importers will surely find Panjiva Trends' information very valuable - in a quick, easy to view manner they can get an idea of the future demand of their products and the volume of competition they're facing. And, they can get an idea of current & future low-cost country sourcing options. For example, judging from the above graph, it looks like Brazil is coming up as a chocolate producer.
What is Panjiva?
Panjiva's mission is to make it easier for companies of all sizes to do business across borders. As a first step, we are helping companies identify which overseas suppliers they can trust. Our approach to this task is unique: we leverage a wide variety of quality data sources to identify, evaluate, and keep tabs on suppliers around the globe.
