8 September 2008
Sourcing Phase: Finding the right supplier to manufacture your products in Asia.
Posted by Roger under: Sourcing products; Suppliers .
I am starting to get in the habit of re-posting (or at least parts of) my emails to customers / potential customers as I find I am repeating myself regularly. Though the recipient varies, the questions asked, expectations and preconceived perceptions are usually the same or similar.
Today’s email was concerning sourcing potential suppliers (See note). My point to the customer was that visiting a trade show is really just the beginning. The most difficult part is not finding the supplier, but rather finding the right China supplier, managing that supplier and the process AFTER the paperwork has been signed. Communication will be an issue (not language communication but understanding of expectations) as will quality control. Finding a potential supplier is really not the challenge here. In fact, this is one of the easiest parts of the process.
There is a lot of really excellent articles out there written about this topic and I am not going to try to rewrite what someone else has already done an excellent job at. What I will do, is provide you with relevant links to good articles on the two most popular ways to finding potential suppliers, so you don’t need to seek them out yourself. I would strongly recommend that you read (or at least skim) these articles which discuss finding suppliers (particularly through the web and through trade shows).
Side Note: I say “potential” because unless you had done previous orders with that supplier (in other words gone through the entire process from start to finish) they should all be considered “unproven.” Even then, staff turnover is a major issue in China and there is also the issue of quality fade which is not to be ignored.
Contacting Manufacturers Online
Here is a good one: Contacting a Factory Online; Lessons Learned from the Field. “Many buyers complain that the factories don’t respond to requests for information or requests for quotes quickly, if at all.” I know that’s been my experience when dealing with China based suppliers. One thing to note here is that China suppliers often use local email addresses like 163 or sohu. Since a huge amount of SPAM originates from China, a large number of ISP’s, domain names and IP addresses in China get blocked overseas. That combined with poor configurations and setups on the severs (anyone who has worked in IT in China will agree with this) means that there is a high change your initial request might not ever even hit their in-box (and/or vice versa). Finding Manufacturers in China: Building a Network the Wrong Way is also a good read.
Attending Trade Shows:
The Ultimate China Sourcing Guide - Part I, does a nice job of laying it out. Including discussing visiting the Canton fair. This is a modified re-post from their original article on this subject at chinawhy and the original article along with China sourcing ultimate guide part 2 is worth reading as well.
Working with Middlemen, Trading Companies and Agents:
The best article I have seen on this topic is at sourcejuice entitled Beware the Middleman and Seek the Intermediary. The main point made here is that if there is no value brought to the table by the person in between then he is just a middleman (and an added cost). The intermediary however works as a valuable bridge between the source and the buyer.
Doing it yourself.
Sometimes this is the best option, though it comes at a price (For me doing it myself took eleven years in China). Take a look at brits-get-rich-in-china first.
Enough said!
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Missing tidbits of vital info?
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