Import business in Brazil: how to set up a store selling imported products

Setting up an import business in Brazil takes four decisions before the first order: the niche, company registration with a CNPJ and Radar clearance, supplier vetting and a full landed-cost calculation. The stores that grow are the ones that know what it costs to restock each item and how long it takes to arrive.

The path that goes wrong most often runs the other way. You start from a supplier's catalogue, buy what looks cheap and only find out the real price at customs clearance, with the cash already tied up. The order below is the one that avoids that rework.

Which import store model makes sense to start with?

The model sets how much capital you tie up, what stock you need to hold and where the margin sits. Four formats show up most often, and each calls for a different operation:

• Reselling a foreign brand: you distribute a product that already has a brand and demand. Less marketing effort, more price competition and, sometimes, an exclusivity contract.
• Private label made abroad: the supplier manufactures to your specification under your brand. Higher margin, higher minimum order and technical responsibility on your side.
• Niche curation: a selection of items from different suppliers for a specific audience. Less capital, but turnover is harder to predict.
• Wholesale to retailers: you import in volume and resell to other businesses. Bigger tickets and longer payment terms.

The sales channel comes with it. Your own online store, a physical shop or B2B sales: your own channel gives you control of margin and customer relationships, and any third-party platform enters the calculation with its own commission and rules.

How do you choose the niche before the supplier?

Choose based on demand you understand and on the cost of bringing the product in, not on the factory price. Four criteria separate a viable niche from a difficult one:

• Value per kilo: the higher it is, the more international freight gets diluted in the price.
• Regulatory requirements: products that need no certification clear faster and cost less to legalise.
• Turnover: frequently replenished items sustain cash flow; one-off purchases need constant traffic.
• Price saturation: if the same product is already sold everywhere at rock-bottom prices, your margin is the first thing to go.

Value per kilo even decides the replenishment mode. In 2025, each kilo Brazil imported by air was worth US$212 on average; each kilo that arrived by sea, US$1.20. Source: MDIC (Brazil's trade ministry), Comex Stat, September 2026. Expensive, light products can carry fast freight; cheap, bulky products live on containers.

Which registrations does an import business in Brazil need?

To import for commercial purposes, the company needs an active CNPJ (Brazil's company tax ID), a registered business activity that matches the trade it will carry out, a state registration for ICMS (the state VAT) and clearance in Siscomex, the foreign trade system, known as Radar (the customs registration for importers). Importing as an individual to resell is not a shortcut: individual shipments assume personal use, and goods with a commercial purpose are subject to retention and penalties.

Radar has modalities based on the company's estimated financial capacity. Under IN RFB 1,984/2020, the limited modality allows imports of up to US$50,000 or up to US$150,000 in each six-month period, depending on that estimate, and the unlimited modality applies to companies with estimated capacity above US$150,000. The express modality, with no limit, is reserved for listed corporations, public companies and mixed-capital companies. Source: Receita Federal (Brazil's federal revenue and customs authority), September 2026.

To validate a new store, the US$50,000-per-semester ceiling is often enough. Ask for the estimate to be reviewed before you get close to the limit, not on the day the big order is ready to ship.

If you do not want to run your own Radar yet, importing on behalf of and to the order of your company, or by commission, through a trading company covers the first lots. The differences between these formats are explained in the guide to importing into Brazil.

How do you vet a foreign supplier?

Vet what you can check: the company's legal existence, production capacity, product compliance with Brazilian rules and delivery record. Price comes later. What protects you is the vetting process, whatever channel the supplier came through.

1. Ask for the company's business registration in its home country and check the legal name, address and years in operation.
2. Buy a sample and test the product the way your customer will use it.
3. Require the technical data sheet and the certificates the product needs to be sold in Brazil.
4. Put specification, packaging, lead time and Incoterm in writing, in a contract or a detailed purchase order.
5. Hire pre-shipment inspection by an independent company for the first lots.
6. Stage the payment: a deposit on order and the balance against documents or after inspection.
7. Keep a second qualified supplier for the items that account for most of your revenue.

Trade fairs, chambers of commerce and trade missions in your sector are good starting points to find manufacturers. The Incoterm on the order decides who pays freight and insurance and where the risk passes to you, and the guide to Incoterms explains each rule.

What does an imported product really cost?

The selling price starts from the cost of the goods delivered and cleared in Brazil, the landed cost, not from the factory price. The full calculation, with freight, insurance, duties and local charges, is in the guide to landed cost.

In a store, the calculation carries on after clearance. Add packaging, shipping to the customer, payment fees, channel commission, customer acquisition cost, a provision for returns and the dollar swing between order and payment to the supplier. For currency, see the strategies in the guide to managing foreign exchange risk.

The table breaks the price into layers and shows the mistake that usually appears in each one.

Hypothetical example of the most common mistake: a 2.5 markup on a factory price equivalent to R$40 gives a selling price of R$100 and an apparent 60% margin. If the landed cost is R$78, the real gross margin drops to 22%, before paying for shipping to the customer and marketing.

Which tax regime should an import store choose?

The regime defines what you pay on sales, not what you pay at customs. Under Simples Nacional (the simplified regime for small companies with gross annual revenue of up to R$4.8 million), import duty, IPI, PIS and Cofins on imports and the ICMS due at clearance stay outside the DAS (the single monthly tax slip) and are paid separately. Source: Complementary Law 123/2006, article 13, paragraph 1.

Under the presumed profit and actual profit regimes, the use of credits for taxes paid at import changes, and that weighs on the margin of anyone reselling high-value products. Simulate all three regimes with your projected volume before opening the company, together with your accountant, and redo the calculation when revenue moves up a level.

2026 is also the test year of Brazil's consumption tax reform. Complementary Law 214/2025 set CBS at 0.9% and IBS at 0.1% for this year, and the Receita Federal and the IBS Management Committee waived payment for taxpayers who meet the reporting obligations, such as showing both taxes on the invoice, according to a joint notice from December 2025.

Which products need certification before you buy volume?

Telecom products, items with mandatory certification and goods under health surveillance can only be sold in Brazil after the responsible agency's requirement is met. According to the Receita Federal import manual (updated in August 2026), telecom products may only be imported for sale with prior Anatel approval, and items without it may be held at clearance, with release conditional on the certificate.

• Anatel (telecoms regulator): radio-frequency items such as wireless earbuds, routers, trackers and remote controls.
• Inmetro (standards body): toys, household appliances, electrical materials and other items with mandatory conformity assessment.
• Anvisa (health regulator): cosmetics, supplements, health products and sanitising products, under non-automatic licensing.
• MAPA (agriculture ministry): products of animal or plant origin and wooden packaging.

Sort this out at the sample stage. A product without certification ends up held at customs or sitting in your warehouse, with no way to sell it.

How do you plan stock and replenishment by courier?

Set a reorder point, a safety stock and a replenishment lead time per route for each item before the first order. With those numbers, you know when to buy and by which mode.

At the start, two speeds usually work. Planned volume goes by the cheapest mode per kilo. Restocking items that sold above forecast and testing new products go by express shipment, which arrives faster and with customs clearance handled by the courier.

According to the Receita Federal, in guidance updated in June 2026, express shipments of up to US$3,000 can use the RTS (Brazil's Simplified Taxation Regime) for both companies and individuals: a single 60% import duty rate, exemption from IPI, PIS and Cofins, and ICMS of 17% to 20% depending on the state.

Law 15,502/2026 authorised the Ministry of Finance to set a 30% rate in that bracket, depending on the shipping mode and on joining a compliance programme, but the implementing act has not been issued yet. How the regime works is explained in the guide to courier imports and the RTS in Brazil.

Choosing between the simplified regime and a formal import changes the rate, the paperwork and the use of tax credits. Decide with your customs broker and accountant before setting up the routine, not on the first lot.

Classify stock with an ABC curve from the first month. A items, which account for most of the revenue, deserve more frequent restocking and a backup supplier; C items can wait for the next consolidated lot.

Which mistakes break an import store?

• Buying large volume on the first order to get a discount, before validating demand.
• Pricing on the factory price and finding out the landed cost later.
• Ignoring certification and ending up with stock that cannot be sold.
• Relying on a single supplier, with no plan B for A items.
• Leaving currency exposure open between order and payment.
• Setting nothing aside for returns and reverse shipping.

None of these mistakes takes much money to avoid. They take order.

Frequently asked questions about setting up an import business in Brazil

Sources

• Receita Federal: Limited and unlimited modalities (IN RFB 1,984/2020)
• Receita Federal: Express modality (IN RFB 1,984/2020)
• Planalto: Complementary Law 123/2006, article 13
• Planalto: Complementary Law 214/2025, articles 343 and 346
• IBS Management Committee: Guidance on CBS and IBS in 2026
• Receita Federal: Import manual, Anatel control
• Receita Federal: International shipments, taxation
• Planalto: Law 15,502/2026
• MDIC: Comex Stat

Start with the numbers, not the catalogue

An import business in Brazil makes money when landed cost is known before the purchase and replenishment has a predictable lead time. The rest is execution, one order at a time.

To test products, restock and receive samples by express shipment with customs clearance handled by the courier, open a DHL Express business account.