Budget to launch your brand in 2027: cost breakdown

Launching a brand with a product made in China involves several cost items that do not all appear at the same time. Some are paid before the first order, others only at customs clearance or when the store goes live. Grouping them into a single list avoids the most common mistake made by a first-time importer: budgeting only the ex-works price and discovering the rest afterwards.

In France, registering as a sole trader (micro-entreprise) is done exclusively online via the Guichet unique des formalités des entreprises, at the earliest one month before starting activity or at the latest within fifteen days afterwards. Registration is free, except for commercial agents, who pay a fee of 23.21 euros. Failure to register carries a fine of 7,500 euros, and a false declaration up to 4,500 euros and six months' imprisonment.

Once the structure is set up, the first samples are the first real cost item tied to the product itself. On sourcing platforms, a sample typically costs between 15 and 50 dollars each depending on the product, plus shipping, and is usually non-refundable, even with a serious supplier: it is a normal due-diligence cost to plan for from the start. Expect several iterations before getting an approved unit, each adding days of express transport.

A mould or dedicated tooling is only needed for private label, when the product starts from your own specifications rather than the factory's catalogue. With white label, the product reuses a mould already amortised by the factory: this cost item disappears, or is limited to a minor adjustment, packaging or branding.

The cost of a mould depends too much on the part's complexity, the material and the number of cavities to be reduced to a single figure: each factory quotes it case by case. What matters more than the amount is the contract: have the tooling's ownership registered in your name, along with its location and the conditions for its return, before paying for it. Otherwise a mould you funded can remain, on paper, the de facto property of the factory storing it.

On sourcing platforms, minimum order quantities usually range from 100 to 1,000 units for a standard product; some suppliers go down to 10 or 100 units, and a few accept a single piece, at a higher unit price. The minimum is almost always negotiable in exchange for a higher price or simplified branding.

The ex-works price is only part of the real cost: freight, insurance, customs duties and VAT are added on top, to reach the landed cost per unit. For a small volume, sea freight consolidation bills by weight or volume with a minimum charge; beyond roughly half of a twenty-foot container, a full container often becomes more economical. This calculation must be redone for every order, as freight prices vary by season.

Customs duties are calculated on the customs value, defined by the Union Customs Code, Regulation (EU) No 952/2013: the price paid, plus transport and insurance up to the EU border. The rate depends on the HS code assigned in the European Commission's TARIC database; it can be zero or exceed ten percent depending on the category, before any anti-dumping duties. Import VAT is then added at the destination country's standard rate, reverse-charged in France since 2022 for a VAT-registered business, which removes the cash-flow advance without cancelling the tax due.

Since 13 December 2024, the European General Product Safety Regulation requires an economic operator established in the EU to be designated as responsible before any consumer product is placed on the market, with a reachable point of contact. In France, any producer subject to extended producer responsibility must also register with ADEME's registry and obtain a unique identifier, under penalty of a fine of up to 30,000 euros. For a sale in Germany, registration with the packaging register is mandatory from the very first shipment, with no minimum threshold, and is also free.

Online store platform pricing varies with the currency displayed at the time of viewing. Several specialised French agencies, based on France pricing published in early September 2026, put the basic plan at around 27 to 36 euros per month depending on commitment, the mid-tier plan at around 79 to 105 euros per month, and the advanced plan at around 289 to 384 euros per month, excluding transaction fees. These figures should be reconfirmed on the official page at the time of purchase, in the actual billing currency.

Launch marketing follows no universal percentage of revenue: it depends on the channel chosen, the product price and the margin left after the landed cost. The safest method is to set a limited, time-boxed test budget, measure the real acquisition cost on that budget, then adjust, rather than tying up a large sum before the first confirmed sale.

The amounts below combine fixed, verifiable costs, registration, samples, regulatory obligations, store subscription, Sorva services, with items that can only be quoted case by case: mould, unit price, freight. Three profiles illustrate how they combine depending on the project's ambition.

Sorva is a brokerage and sourcing house based between Guangzhou and Paris. Our Chinese-speaking team on the ground costs out every item before you commit, samples, mould, unit price, freight and duties, to set a complete budget before the first order, not after.

In most cases you pay no fees: you open a file, we negotiate the merchandise on your behalf and we take a commission on its ex-works value. For deeper scoping before committing, the technical feasibility study or the Turnkey business package build this budget with us, item by item.