The instinct when entering Europe is to price below the incumbent, because price is the one variable you control completely. It works less often than it should, because a European professional buyer reads an unusually low price as information: either the specification is not what they understood, or there is a cost hidden further down the chain, or the supplier will not be there in three years.
What has to be inside the price
- Duties and import VAT handling, which depend on the incoterm and on who is the importer of record.
- Conformity: testing, documentation, and in several categories an EU-based responsible person. This is a recurring cost, not a one-off.
- Returns and warranty, which in Europe are a legal floor rather than a commercial gesture.
- The margin of whoever sells after you — a distributor's requirement is structural, not negotiable enthusiasm.
- Currency: a price quoted in euros and costed in renminbi carries a risk that someone has to own explicitly.
Discount structure beats a low headline price
A defensible list price with a clear volume ladder, a first-order condition and a stated review date gives you somewhere to move later. A low opening price gives you nowhere: every subsequent conversation is about going lower, and raising it reads as a broken promise. The first price you publish sets the ceiling on every price you will get from that buyer.
Where the comparison actually happens
Buyers rarely compare unit prices; they compare landed cost plus the cost of dealing with you. Shorter lead times, a reliable delivery window, packaging that does not need re-working and documentation that does not need chasing all reduce the second term. Making those visible in the offer moves the conversation off price without asking the buyer to pay more for nothing.
If you intend to build a brand in Europe rather than supply one, price is part of the positioning from day one. It is much easier to grant a discount than to recover a perception.