How to Find Importers and Distributors in Norway and Scandinavia

Three kinds of sales partner

People use "distributor" for several quite different arrangements. Before you search, decide which one you want:

• Importer or distributor. Buys your products, takes ownership, holds stock, sets resale prices and sells to retailers, businesses or institutions. You earn less per unit but carry less risk in the market. Importers also handle the import formalities, which matters for regulated goods such as food.
• Agent. Finds customers and negotiates sales on your behalf, usually for a commission, while you sell and invoice directly. You keep more control and margin, but you handle delivery, invoicing and often customs yourself.
• Reseller or retailer with own sourcing. Large retail chains and e-commerce companies that buy directly from manufacturers.

The choice also has legal consequences. In Norway, commercial agents are covered by the Agency Act (agenturloven), which has mandatory rules that cannot be contracted out of to the agent's disadvantage. They include notice periods and, on termination, a right to compensation and in some cases a goodwill (clientele) indemnity when the agent has brought in customers you continue to benefit from. Take local legal advice before you sign an agency agreement.

Step 1: Describe your ideal partner

Write down:

• Which customers the partner must reach (for example hardware stores, hospitals, restaurants, industrial workshops).
• Which regions: the whole country, or the large cities first. In Norway, many distributors cover the whole country from the Oslo region, but some industries are regional.
• What the partner must handle: warehousing, technical service, marketing, public tenders, import formalities.
• What it must not do: for example carry a directly competing brand.

Step 2: Find candidates in the registers

Each Scandinavian country has an official company register where wholesalers and agents are classified by industry code:

• Norway: Enhetsregisteret (Brønnøysundregistrene). Wholesale is industry group 46 (in the SN2025 standard Norway uses since September 2025), with subgroups by product type, and agency activities sit within it. Propler's free company search filters a nightly copy of the Norwegian register by industry group, region, size and more; Propler's AI search (free account) lets you describe your product and suggests Norwegian companies with the reasons behind each suggestion.
• Sweden: Bolagsverket, with SNI codes; Denmark: CVR. Our guide to business opportunities in Scandinavia explains both registers. Propler does not search Swedish or Danish companies.

Other good sources of candidates are trade fairs, industry associations, the brands distributors already carry (look at their websites), and the winners of public tenders in your product area, published in Doffin and on TED.

Step 3: Evaluate the shortlist

For each candidate, check:

• Fit with your customers. Does it already sell to the customers you want? Its website, product range and reference customers tell you.
• Range and conflicts. Which brands does it carry? A complementary range is good; a direct competitor may mean your products are put on the shelf and forgotten.
• Size and solidity. Filed annual accounts (in Norway, public for limited companies) show revenue, result and equity. A partner too small cannot fund stock; one too large may not prioritise you.
• Capabilities. Sales staff, warehouse, technical service, e-commerce, experience with public tenders.
• Basic facts. Status, legal form, who runs it. Our verification checklist covers Norway.

Step 4: First contact and first meeting

Distributors receive many proposals. Yours should show, in a few lines, why your product fits their range and their customers, what margin they can expect, and what support you give (training, marketing material, samples, delivery times). In the first meeting, ask how they would sell your product, to whom, and what volumes they realistically expect in the first year.

Remember that Norway's Marketing Control Act requires prior consent for e-mail marketing to individuals, so write to company addresses or use introductions.

Step 5: The agreement

Points to agree in writing, whatever the arrangement:

• Territory and exclusivity. Consider a limited first period or performance targets before granting exclusivity for a whole country.
• Targets and reporting. Minimum volumes or activities, and what happens if they are not met.
• Prices, payment and delivery terms, including Incoterms and who handles customs and VAT.
• Marketing, trademarks and online sales. Who may use your brand, and how.
• Term and termination, with notice periods. For agents in Norway, the Agency Act's mandatory rules apply.
• Applicable law and disputes.

EU and EEA competition rules limit some restrictions in distribution agreements, such as fixing resale prices. Get advice if you plan strict territorial or price controls.

One partner for Scandinavia, or one per country?

Some distributors offer to cover Norway, Sweden and Denmark together. That can work well for a small range or a niche product, and it gives you one contact. But the three countries have separate registers, languages, retail chains, public tender systems and, for Norway, a customs border with the EU. Ask a Scandinavian distributor how many salespeople it has in each country and which customers it already serves there. If the answer for one country is "none yet", consider a separate partner for that market, or a shorter first period for it.

Step 6: Make the partnership work

Most failed distribution partnerships fail quietly: the products are listed, but nobody sells them. Agree a first-year plan together, train the sales staff, visit, and look at the numbers every quarter. A partner that sees you invest in the market is more likely to invest too.

Where Propler fits

Propler helps with steps 2 and 3 for Norway: finding wholesalers, agents and other companies that sell to your target customers, and checking their register facts and accounts in one place. It does not judge whether a partner will perform; that takes conversations and a trial period.