1.Why China has become the primary country of choice when it comes to sourcing products?
China has been the largest exporter of goods in the world since 2009. Importing goods from China and shipping them across the globe has become a huge business.China is the first choice for many countries to purchase products.Many online or retail businesses outside China have benefited greatly from sourcing products from China.Chinese products are among the most used products in the market. You can find them everywhere.Then why China is the first choice for purchasing products?What benefits can we get if we source from China?The main points are as follows:
(1)Low cost and high quality
Low cost and high quality are the main reasons why so many enterprises rely on China to purchase products.One the one hand,China has a huge and low-cost labor pool. Statistics show that the wages of Chinese factory workers are far lower than those of other workers in the United States and other countries. Labor is cheap in China. The cost-effectiveness of such labor is unparalleled. In addition,manufacturing materials are easy to obtain and cheap in China. This allows for low manufacturing costs, thereby minimizing product costs. One the other hand, contrary to the popular belief that China is the home to cheap and low-quality products, now many manufacturing units in China produce high-quality products that are competitive in any market. For example, Apple chose to produce products in China. This is certainly not because of the low quality of Chinese products. Apple has seen something special in China’s manufacturing industry, which is why they turned to China’s manufacturing industry. China has the infrastructure to efficiently produce high-quality products.
(2)Masters Of Design
The design and packaging of a product is usually the customer’s first impression of a particular product. Consumers will make purchase decisions based on product design. If you want your product to stand out from the competition, you must invest in product design. Another reason why most people choose to import products from China is their expertise in design. Some Chinese company engineers can even design products for you according to your specifications.
(3)Elimination of middlemen
A safe way to increase profits is to provide products to customers at low prices without affecting quality. One way to achieve this goal is to cut down middlemen as much as possible. Chinese manufacturers recognize this and deal directly with the enterprises they purchase. Chinese purchasing agents eliminate the role of middlemen and deal with your enterprises directly. In addition to the huge cost savings that benefit you, you can also better understand how sellers work and how to get the best products from them.
(4)Scaling capabilities
Efficient Chinese infrastructure and manufacturers with in-depth knowledge and understanding of the global supply chain make it possible to significantly increase the production scale without additional trouble. You can increase the output from hundreds to thousands in about a week. In addition, Chinese manufacturers allow lower MOQ. If you have a startup or small business, it will be good for you to place small orders at a time and then expand as your business grows. The time needed to expand production scale will depend on the supply of raw materials and production time, but it will be better in China than in other parts of the world.
(5)Reduced risk of fraud
Purchasing products from China reduces the risk of fraud in commercial transactions. Because you can contact the supplier directly, you can know what is going on in each step of the process. You can directly deal with problems such as untimely delivery, poor quality and fraudulent transactions without any intermediaries. When you purchase products from China, you have a better understanding of what happened behind the scenes.
2.How to purchase high-quality products from China?
Purchasing products from China is certainly beneficial to your business. But before you know how to source from China, you should know that there are three types of product suppliers in China, namely trading companies, wholesalers and manufacturers.
Trade companies: Trading companies are large factories that provide a large number of products. They will add a sum of expense to the manufacturing cost to make profits. Their prices are often higher than those offered by manufacturers. But trading companies also have many advantages. First, they can provide a variety of products to save labor costs. Although the direct purchase price from manufacturers is lower than that from trading companies, when a customer needs multiple products, especially for daily necessities and general merchandise customers, it is sometimes difficult to purchase all the products they want from a single factory. Therefore, they need to equip enough staff to deal with different factories, which actually increases their labor costs and offsets the benefits of low price procurement. But trading companies can help them solve this problem. If we cooperate with trading companies, trading companies have rich supplier resources, can provide different types of products, and also greatly save labor costs. Second, reduce risks. As a customer, he needs a stable supply channel. If he purchases directly from the factory, he will face the problem of how to recruit substitutes when the factory has problems. This is not easy, but it is much more stable to purchase through foreign trade companies. Third, we have more experience in foreign trade. The trading company has been engaged in foreign trade for a long time, and has accumulated a lot of experience in this field, which the factory lacks.
Wholesaler: Wholesalers usually operate standardized products, and you cannot choose to customize according to your needs. Wholesalers usually have warehouses abroad, which can save transportation and storage costs. In order to earn profits, wholesalers add certain profits to the manufacturing costs. For new e-commerce enterprises, wholesalers can be a good choice.
Manufacturer: Working directly with manufacturers is the most cost-effective option. Its profit margin is higher than what you get from trading companies or wholesalers. The difficulty lies in effective communication with manufacturers, because many manufacturers do not have English speaking front desk staff. Many manufacturers have also been acquired by big companies like Alibaba, so it is difficult to find what you are looking for.
After knowing the three major product suppliers, how can we find these suppliers and purchase high-quality products from them? There are mainly the following methods.
(1)Attend China Trade Fair
If you have the resources to visit China, participating in trade fairs is the best choice to find reputable suppliers. The following two exhibitions can be considered.
Canton Import and Export Fair: The Canton Fair is held twice a year in Guangzhou, usually in April/May and November. It is one of the largest procurement fairs in the world. In fact, it is so big that it operates in three different phases, covering electronics, consumer goods and home decoration, as well as “everything else”. For dates and details, you can visit the English website of the Canton Fair.
Global Sources Trade Show: Similar to the Canton Fair and featuring many of the same exhibitors, the GST is held annually in Hong Kong. This fair tends to focus on certain product categories so if you’re looking to purchase electronics or fashion accessories, this could be the best show to attend. Another appeal is the low language barrier. Unlike in mainland China, almost everyone in Hong Kong speaks English so it’s much easier to get around.
Both fairs are free to attend although you will have to budget for flights, hotels, interpreters and so on. This could be a small investment for the contacts you potentially can establish with reliable local manufacturers.
(2)Buy from China through the wholesale market
In China, it is worth visiting the wholesale market, where you can browse a large number of products at extremely low prices. For example, Yiwu Market is the largest wholesale market in the world. Unlike the fair, it is a physical store where you can check the goods and take them away, or ship them to your warehouse.The wholesale market is open all year round (except Chinese holidays), so you don’t have to wait for trade shows to find suppliers. Goods are readily available, so you can accurately see what you get and check the quality of products through physical inspection.
(3)Find Chinese Suppliers on the Internet
For small businesses that don’t have the resources to fly to China, online directories are the next best avenue for ordering wholesale products direct from China. You can do a general search for suppliers on Google, but most businesses head straight for the business-to-business directories that give you thousands of Chinese suppliers at your fingertips. The main directories are:Alibaba/GlobalSources (the same people who run the trade show)./Made in China.com/AliExpress, a division of Alibaba which focuses on manufacturers who sell in smaller quantities to buyers.
In a word, purchasing products from China has become the first choice for enterprises in most countries. There are also many channels to source from China. Ningbo Grentime Imp&Exp Co., Ltd is committed to providing excellent supply chain services to global customers and building a supply chain service benchmark. We have been engaged in import and export trade for more than 20 years. At present, we have established a stable partnership with more than 2000 important foreign customers in more than 120 countries and regions and more than 10000 export-oriented manufacturing enterprises in China. If you are interested in purchasing high-quality products from China, Ningbo Grentime Imp&Exp Co., Ltd is a good choice for you.
