Importing from China or thinking about doing so? No matter you want to change suppliers to find better quality with more affordable price or start a small business, no doubt that it'd be a lot easier and cheaper to buy directly from Chinese manufacturers and skip a local wholesaler or other middle steps.
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Why should I source from China?
Chinese economy is in a growth period, costs of manufacturing are very low compared to elsewhere in the world.
This presents a fantastic opportunity to you as a seller! By sourcing your merchandise directly from China, you&#;re able to get extremely low prices per unit and turn them around for a high profit in your own country.
The reasons behind this are quite simple:
But, China does not produce quality goods?
There are stereotypes that Chinese products are equal to bad quality ones. As everyone knows, you pay for what you get. So:
So how to choose a good supplier with good quality and fair price for yourself among thousands of Chinese suppliers ? You&#;re several thousand miles away, primarily English-speaking and largely unfamiliar with Chinese law, business practices and culture. So how can you possibly be certain that you&#;re choosing the right supplier in China? There are several techniques to source suppliers in China that should be used together for the best results.
Here's a checklist you can run through whenever you're evaluating a Chinese supplier
1) Verify the legitimacy of the company
Google and background check the company if they actually exist! You'll be surprised how many of them aren't. Google their company and check for reviews, address and contact number to look for any red flags.
2) Have a chat with their support
Give them a call and have a quick test run of their support, you can find out their response time and how effective they are at solving your questions. If their customer service sucks, YOUR customer service will suck. Their support will directly affect yours. So don't skip this step!
3) Order product samples
By ordering products and having them shipped to you, you can find out how long shipping times are, their packaging quality as well as the product quality. You should order samples from at least 3-4 companies to give yourself options
4) Negotiate
Once you have a few supplier options, you can start to inquire and negotiate prices with them. Price negotiations must be done at the right time.
When your business is flourishing and you need to order more products in order to keep customers happy, this is a good time to negotiate.
5) Research and compare prices
Inquire prices from multiple suppliers to get an understanding of the price range for your product. Find one that produces good enough quality product with reasonable pricing.
If you spend time doing the above-mentioned diligently, you should find a decent supplier that meets your business goal in no time!
How to find legitimate suppliers in China?
There are thousands of suppliers in China, each specializing in their own area of expertise. Do they all offer the same level of quality? Definitely not. This is why due diligence is needed when it comes to selecting the best supplier for your business needs.
Attend trade shows.
If timing is right, attending a trade show in your industry can be a great way to meet legitimate suppliers and interact with them face-to-face. Before attending any show, come up with a list of pre-audit questions to help narrow down your choices. Trade shows can be overwhelming so the list will help keep you on track while helping you remember key points about potential suppliers.
Stalk potential suppliers online.
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Unless it&#;s a paid ad, there are no laws governing online marketing in China. This means websites in China are permitted to inaccurately promote services and facts on their websites. After generating a list of potential suppliers, scour the web for all the customer reviews you can find. Be wary of unprofessional, poorly written or unrealistically positive reviews. Social media is another online medium you can look to for customer reviews, although not all suppliers will be on social media.
Protip: To quickly identify recurrent fraudulent suppliers, run a Google search containing your potential supplier&#;s company name alongside the world &#;scam&#;. The results should provide you with any public horror stories.
Inspect for quality assurance.
Once you have a list of potential suppliers, it&#;s time to take things to the next level: inspecting for quality assurance. There are many activities that can be carried out to ensure that a supplier is legitimate and trustworthy.
Inspect Factory.
While booking a flight to China and hiring a Mandarin assistant for a week is probably the best idea, it&#;s not always feasible in terms of time and finances. It also might not be the most efficient option for a busy entrepreneur. Luckily, you can hire experienced factory inspectors in China to get the job done more efficiently and effectively. Inspecting the factory is important since it ensures that the supplier in question actually exists and is in business at that given address. It also confirms that the factory specifications provided to you were legitimate. The inspector should provide you with photos of the factory and equipment, a detailed report with information critical to your needs as well as their unbiased opinion on whether or not you should enter into a business relationship with that supplier.
A few of suppliers red flags:
· Supplier offers abnormally deep discounts: In China, suppliers in the same category typically charge the market price so be wary of any suppliers charging 20% over or below that market price.
· Supplier has a lack of online reviews: I would completely disregard any suppliers that have a complete lack of online word-of-mouth. It&#;s true that everyone has to start somewhere but as a product developer located 7,000 miles away, it&#;s just not worth taking on that level of risk.
· Supplier offers too wide of a variety of goods: Your safest bet is to focus on suppliers that specialize in specific areas.
Supplier scale
Your desired supplier scale should match your business and order scale. Take a look at how they rank in different metrics.
Price level: Big scale supplier > medium scale supplier > small supplier
Quality stability: Big scale supplier > medium scale supplier > small supplier
Flexibility (design alternative, service in place): Small supplier > medium supplier > Big supplier
Lead time: Big supplier > small supplier > medium supplier
Bigger manufacturers have higher pricing because of the equipment and management etc cost higher, for which reason they have more stable quality and fewer quality issues.
The flexibility for a big supplier is not charming because they have a system in place. A big company have to follow the system and can&#;t change things easily and conveniently.
Price, quality level, lead time, service terms
These are core factors you want to check whether the potential supplier can meet your baseline or not.
Price can be the very one biggest factor that drives you to import from China. Good price IS surely important but it is not the only factor. Low price must have a reason.
Are they professional?
What kind of professionalism will benefit your procurement?
The professionalism of product knowledge is a basis. These are some more you want to look for in the salesperson and company: company and product strength, target market trends, market competence, good knowledge about what is important to you, what you want and need and feedback with particular proposals.
It is very difficult to find a perfect sales or supplier, but please pay attention to spot them and see whether they have good service traits. It will help a lot along the entire import process. The mindsets do matter. With all of these tips, with your patience I am sure you will easily find good suppliers suit you well and get long term cooperation.
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