As global pharmaceutical markets place increasing demands on the variety, quality and compliance of excipients, more and more excipient manufacturers are looking to move beyond their domestic markets and enter the international arena.

However, the reality often looks like this:

Overseas customers simply cannot find you

Building your own international sales team is costly and time-consuming

Lack of experience in registration and professional presentation makes it hard to build trust

This article focuses on how excipient manufacturers can leverage B2B platforms to expand globally, and aims to provide small and medium-sized companies with a practical, repeatable and cost-controllable approach.

I. Typical Challenges for Excipient Manufacturers Going Global

1. Single-channel dependence: heavily reliant on offline and personal networks

Most companies still rely on a traditional mix of:

“Domestic pharma exhibitions + trading companies + personal connections”

This model is low in efficiency and makes it difficult to build a scalable and sustainable customer acquisition engine.

2. Non-standardized product information: buyers don’t understand you and don’t dare to place orders

Common issues include:

Product descriptions are very basic

Lack of complete English materials

No clear presentation of certifications or functional attributes

As a result, it becomes difficult for overseas buyers to evaluate:

“What exactly is this excipient suitable for, and can I trust it?”

3. Missing compliance information: high trust barriers

What do excipient buyers care about most?

Registration status

GMP compliance

Availability of DMF or equivalent files

However, many companies:

Either do not have such documentation structured clearly

Or fail to actively and systematically present it

This leads to a high trust barrier, even when the underlying product and quality systems are sound.

4. Insufficient international exposure: buyers cannot find you

If you are not present in:

Search engines

Vertical B2B platforms

Industry media

then it is extremely difficult to create effective touchpoints with overseas buyers.

Many company owners feel that:

“It’s not that there is no demand, it’s that the market simply doesn’t know we exist.”

II. Why Use a B2B Platform?

For excipient manufacturers, a mature pharma-focused B2B platform can effectively combine the roles of:

Online exhibition + corporate homepage + buyer matching system

Key advantages include:

1. Concentrated, targeted buyers

Buyers from multiple countries

Real, registered companies actively searching for excipients / APIs / related raw materials

2. Integrated showcasing and matching

Company profile and product pages

Support for:

Keyword optimization

Certification and registration display

Application scenarios and functional use cases

This allows the right buyers to find the right products more easily.

3. Online matchmaking and inquiry management

Messaging and communication within the platform

Helps reduce cross-border communication barriers (time zones, language, channels)

Enables systematic follow-up and tracking of inquiries

For small and medium-sized excipient manufacturers, this is a relatively low-threshold way to test overseas markets and accumulate leads.

III. Recommended Go-to-Market Strategy for SME Excipient Manufacturers

Based on practical platform experience, the following is a low-cost and executable combined approach:

1️⃣ Content first: build standardized English product documentation

For each excipient product, it is recommended to prepare a standardized English info pack, including:

English product name + category + applicable dosage forms

Functional description

g. disintegrant, sustained-release excipient, binder, coating material, etc.

Quality standards: USP / Ph.Eur / ChP, etc.

Certification display: GMP / EXCiPACT / ISO / HALAL / Kosher

Technical documentation package (as needed), such as:

MSDS

COA

Stability data

Process consistency and control information

The goal is that, after reading this page, a buyer can quickly decide:

“Is it worth requesting a sample or starting a conversation?”

2️⃣ Go live with multilingual product pages and bind keywords

If the platform supports multiple languages, priority can be given to:

English (essential)

Portuguese (for Brazil and some Latin markets)

Spanish (for broader Latin America and other regions)

For keywords, consider combinations of:

Function + dosage form + key attributes, such as:

“Direct Compressible MCC”

“Low Moisture Starch”

“Co-processed excipients for ODT”

Follow the platform’s internal SEO rules for product naming and descriptions so that search becomes your “always-on business developer”.

3️⃣ Create themed pages or “hero product” bundles

In addition to single product pages, you can create themed or solution-oriented content, for example:

“Excipient DMF Overview Collection”

“Recommended Controlled/Sustained Release Excipient List”

“Excipient Combinations for Child-Friendly Formulations”

These formats make buyers feel that:

“You are not just selling a single item, but providing solutions.”

4️⃣ Establish a responsive communication mechanism

Many companies don’t lack inquiries – they lack timely and professional responses. Typical problems include:

Response delays

No standard reply templates

Weak follow-up

Basic practices should include:

Having someone regularly log in to the platform to check and reply to messages

Being ready with:

Standard quotation templates

Draft sets of registration support documents (which can be tailored by country)

Setting up simple auto-replies, for example:

Holiday / weekend messages

Expected response time

Responsiveness to inquiries is the first step in retaining serious buyers.

IV. Final Thoughts: It’s Not Just About “Listing”, It’s About “Operating”

Going global is not a one-off action, nor is it simply “paying a fee to place an ad”. For excipient manufacturers, the essence is:

Show professionalism → Build trust → Be consistently visible → Create a stable customer acquisition engine

So in practice:

✔️ Showing professionalism = Winning trust

✔️ Standardized content = Lower communication costs

✔️ Continuous operation = Building a sustainable lead generation channel

If you are already exporting excipients, or planning to explore overseas markets, you can start by:

Standardizing your English documentation

Publishing product pages on suitable B2B platforms

Gradually using platform data to understand markets, inquiries and country distribution

Platforms like Drugdu.com, which focus on the global pharmaceutical and medical sectors, are helping more and more excipient manufacturers build global visibility and inquiry channels.

If you want to better understand global buyer behavior for excipients, search patterns, keyword trends or compliance hot topics,

you are welcome to explore Drugdu.com and see how it can support your international expansion.

By editor