How to sell your project to Chinese manufacturers

February 21st, 2012

Many importers are shocked because they need to convince Chinese manufacturers to work for them, rather than the opposite. They need to “sell” their project. The reason is usually a combination of low quantity orders and high-complexity products.

It is what academics call ”reverse marketing” :
In reverse marketing, the buyer tries to persuade the supplier to provide exactly what the buyer needs. Without this buyer initiative the buyer is unlikely to offer what the buyer requires.

What type of arguments will help you convince the Chinese supplier if you are in this case?

Your company has been in business for more than 5 years, and you are not the sole employee.
The development of the product is already done (you have a working prototype, a bill of materials, and precise specifications). It means there is a low uncertainty, and the supplier won’t have to deploy high engineering efforts.
You will sell (or, better, you already sell) to big brands that the supplier recognizes. There is an important upside to your project, if it is commercially successful.

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Why do not look for the cheapest supplier?

February 20th, 2012

Many importers go on Chinese trade shows or browse online directories to find their suppliers. They find companies that display the product they look for, they ask for prices, and then they go for the lowest quotation. Most of the time, this is a big mistake. In such cases, the lowest quote is usually below costs. There are two reasons for this:

Some suppliers want to start developing a product with you and manufacturing it for you, and they will find reasons for increasing the price along the way (usually after the deposit for the first order has been wired).
Some other suppliers simply don’t know what the costs are. They have never made this product, even though it is displayed in their booth.

They will wonder where and how to manufacture it after you have sent them a PO.  Which case is the worst? Both are extremely frustrating for importers, but the second case is the most dangerous. Not only will you get unexpected price rises, but you will also certainly get poor quality products.

A Chinese supplier that tries to reduce his costs will tend to purchase the lowest-quality components he can find. He will then process/assemble and pack them in a small and unstructured workshop that has no idea about the customer’s standard. That frequently leads to quality disasters.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting that you choose the most expensive offer either (except if there is enough value behind it). In most cases, the majority of quotes will revolve around a certain price. It is the “market price” in China at that point in time. You should avoid the outliers that offer prices 20% below that price. If it is too good to be true, a degree of deception is probably involved. Even if you place one-shot orders based on pricing, the lowest quote will often be more expensive than the average quote.

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Factory Inspections: Know Your Manufacturers

February 19th, 2012

It is common to find companies sourcing products from low-cost manufacturers that they come across online or at trade shows.  Sites like Alibaba.com offer a quick way to be introduced to thousands of Chinese suppliers. However, the savvy businessperson will make sure that they align themselves with the right suppliers; ones that have the ability to support their business and meet their customer’s needs and expectations.

Sites like Panjiva.com (an online platform providing trade information on over 1.5 million companies doing business internationally) can assist in conducting a preliminary supplier due diligence, however nothing can compare to physically visiting and auditing potential suppliers. Gaining an understanding of the inner workings of your supplier’s operations and learning their strengths and weaknesses will allow you to sleep better at night knowing  that you have the necessary information to move forward with the relationship.

The important thing to remember is to make sure you get the audit done; whether you decide to audit your suppliers yourself or have a 3rd party/ independent auditing firm conduct the audits on your behalf.  If you talk to someone who has been sourcing from low-cost manufacturing countries, it is inevitable that you will hear their horror stories of bad experiences with certain vendors.

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China Supplier Evaluations – What to Look For

February 18th, 2012

China Supplier Evaluations – What to Look For

There are 3 key points to keep in mind when evaluating a China supplier.  They are:

1.  Separate QC Staff – To what degree (if any) does the factory separate the QC staff from the production staff.  In the ideal situation there is a separate QC manager who is equal or of higher authority than the Production Manager.  In any case, the Production Manager should have his own separate team, responsible directly to top management, with the responsibility of product quality only.  Identifying this will immediately help you weed out the worst 85% of factories.

2.  Organization – Organization across the board, from neat and complete offices, to production space and warehousing.  This includes clear markings.

3.  Communication – Pay special attention to how the supplier communicates with you both face to face and through emails.  The best factory in the world is useless to you if they communicate poorly.

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Why People love Made in China Products

February 17th, 2012

See the latest products at Asia’s first &only specialized Fair onlineThe World Leading Exporter of Consumer Goods
China the world leading goods exporter is an ultimate choice of consumer to buy goods, services and services with a tag of Made in China. The evolution of better accessibility to everyone China secured biggest market share among different market segmentations of massive world wide exports. No one can doubt about the great success and brand exposure of Made in China products because the nation provides real chance to most of suppliers, distributors and large entrepreneurs to invest money and avail lucrative profit.

There was a time when no one can’t imagine China which is also better known as most populous nation along limited resources, the early stage of new century the nation deployed magnificent economical policy and trimmed small and medium enterprises to explore wide range of production featuring Chinese toys, cool gadgets, mobiles, consumer goods and home appliances. The attraction of cheapness and identical popularity of Made in China captured the grand audience interest. Chinese Exporters and Manufacturers targeted one concept of bringing accessibility for all people. Therefore mainly the price feature grabbed the attention of China products popularity and demand in Europe, USA and Canada.

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Yiwu wholesale market

February 16th, 2012

 
Yiwu Market Introduction

Yiwu Wholesale Markets(other name: Yiwu international trade city, or Yiwu commodity market, short as CCC) is located in Yiwu city, heart of Zhejiang province. Established in 1982, it was one of the earliest specialized markets in China. With 4 relocations and 8 expansions in the past 20-odd years, it now possesses an operating area of more than 4,000,000m2, with 3 market clusters namely International Trade Mart, Huangyuan Market and Binwang Market. CCC has 62,000 booths, 200,000 employees and over 200,000 daily customer flow person-times. Honored by world authorities of the UN, the World Bank and the Morgan Stanley as “the largest small commodity wholesale market in the world” in 2005, it is an international center of small commodity transactions, information and demonstration, and one of the national largest small commodity exporting bases.

Yiwu wholesale market has a developed logistic system which is one of the three largest logistic centers of Zhejiang. The Market possesses more than 200 consignment lines right through to 200 domestic cities; six railway lines for special train of luggage and parcel; the only civil airport around middle part of Zhejiang. Close to the ports of Ningbo and Shanghai with well developed marine transportation, it formed a three-dimensional transportation network of road, railway, and aviation. Its cargo handling capacity is more than 5,000 tons, and it set up customs offices with “one declaration and three inspections”. It also constructed two supporting modern logistic bases of International Logistics Center and City Logistics Center both with advanced facilities, perfect functions, and high efficiencies.

Commodities from china commodity city(CCC) have been exported to over 212 countries and regions covering areas of Southeast Asia, Middle East, Europe and America. Annual export has reached 60% of total business volume, of which competitive industries such as crafts, ornaments, hardware and eyeglasses accounted for 70% of the export volume. 60% suppliers in the Market have had oversea trading experience. Now there are more than 8000 foreigners and over 500 offshore business organizations resident here for business.

ChinaCommodity Cityhas an advanced and developed market system as it promoted exhibition industry early with great influences. The Market has constructed in supplementary a large exhibition center with internationally advanced level. The Meihu Exhibition Center covers a total building area of 46,000m2 with 5 exhibition halls, which could contain altogether 1500 international booths. It is facilitated with international conference rooms, business centers, coffee bars, etc. It takes about 20 international and national fairs in different scales each year. The China Commodity Fair has experienced 10 sessions since started in 1995. From the year 2002, the Fair was upgraded to a national export-oriented fair held by Ministry of Commerce. In 2005, the transaction reached 8.098 billion yuan, of which 661 million US dollars are from exporting. The China Yiwu International Small Commodity Fair has become an importance annual fair for labor intensive products, and drawn much attention with its trade-related, export-oriented and long lasted features.

Yiwu Wholesale market Address

Yiwu Commodity City has three large markets, namely Huangyuan Market that mainly sells daily commodities, treads and needles, shoes and gloves as well as hats, socks, etc; Binwang Market takes garments, non-staple food, neck ties and towels as its leading products; and International Trade Mart (also called Futian Market), which is divided into two phases, is a demonstration of toys, ornaments, arts and crafts and flowers in its first phase, and hardware tools, electronic products, outdoor products, suitcases & bags, office supplies, cosmetics, etc in the second phase. All the three markets are on the same street that is the middle of Chouzhou Road crossing with Huangyuan Road, north of Chouzhou Road crossing with Binwang Road, and north of Chouzhou Road crossing with Shangcheng Avenue respectively

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