Many importers want to source goods from China and sell them in their own countries. Because lots of reliable factories in China can produce high-quality products at affordable prices. Importers can gain higher profits.
However, sourcing from China is not an easy thing, and you will run into a lot of challenges, especially if you are new to the Chinese market.
Today’s post shows detailed information about sourcing from China. Keep reading.
Two ways of sourcing products from China
When you import goods from China and sell them in your own country, you have a lot of options. Most of our clients will choose the following two common ways.
- Wholesaling existing products: You buy products in bulk and resell them to your customers, or label them with your own brand, which is a white-label business.
- Creating private label products: You can make adjustments to already-proven products on the market or make a new product, and then sell it to your customers.
I will introduce how to source products from China in these two ways.
Sourcing an existing product from China
You can directly find suppliers on Chinese wholesale websites, such as Alibaba, Made in China, AliExpress & DHgate, etc.
To find the best supplier for your product on these platforms, you’d better compare several suppliers and ask them for quotations and samples. After receiving the samples, you can choose the best one to place the order. Then you can negotiate shipping incoterms with the supplier and arrange shipment.
Create your own product in China
If you want to create a new product and then sell it on your brand, it is a more complex process.
First of all, you need to understand what product you want. This is the most important prerequisite. If you have your own design draft or product spec sheet, you can send it directly to your supplier. If you only have a rough idea and the number you need is very small, like a few hundred, the factory will not accept your order.
So you’d better find a purchasing agent, like JingSourcing. With a professional design team, we can help you design from scratch, including product outlook, materials, techniques, etc.
The next step is to find suppliers who manufacture your product. You can find them on your own and tell them your needs, or you can find a sourcing agent to help you find suitable suppliers and communicate product details.
You will get quotations from different suppliers. If you accept their prices, ask the suppliers to make samples of your requirements and send them to you. You check whether the sample quality, size, etc., are in compliance.
According to communication, quotations, and samples, you need to compare them and choose the one you think is the most suitable to place the order. After that, your supplier will start to arrange mass production and shipping according to the negotiated incoterms.
Two options when sourcing from China
Though you can find lots of manufacturers on Chinese wholesale websites, most importers still choose sourcing agents to help them. Why?
By wholesale websites
Though there are countless suppliers on Chinese wholesale websites, it’s hard for you to know whom to work with. What’s more, 70% of wholesale websites are actually trading companies, and are not all reliable. In many cases, you may spend a lot of time and effort and still not be able to find suitable suppliers.
In addition, the factories you find directly are more focused on production than service. If your product requirements are unclear, they will produce them based on previous experience and industry standards, which means that the product you receive may not meet your needs at all.
Moreover, suppliers on many wholesale websites have large MOQs, such as thousands of pieces. If you are not up to their requirements, and your product is too complicated and needs several factories to work together, they will reject you.
By sourcing company
Cooperating with an experienced China sourcing company can solve the above problems.
Here I take JingSourcing as an example. Located in Yiwu, the largest wholesale market in China, there are many factories around us. So we can integrate supplier resources here or even all over China, many of which you can not access on wholesale websites. This means that once you tell us your needs, whether it is an off-the-shelf product or a complex custom project, we can quickly find suitable suppliers with competitive prices for you.
In addition, we select several suppliers from dozens or even hundreds, and then you choose the best one, which simplifies the difficulty of supplier selection.
Besides helping you find suppliers to produce and customize products, we also provide many other services, such as sample collection, production follow-up, quality control, customs clearance, and shipping. We can control the whole supply chain, which greatly improves your procurement efficiency.
Therefore, we are a better choice for importing from China, especially if you are:
- first-time buyers with little importation experience
- purchasers with customization requirements but low MOQ
- importers sourcing special/multiple product categories
Three tips when sourcing from China
Importing from China is a complex process, you may encounter various problems and challenges. So here I list some tips that may be helpful for importers when sourcing in China.
Arrange for product QC
Suppose you purchase products from China, and you are not satisfied after receiving the goods. You want to return them and make compensation, which is not a simple matter. Unlike buying things in your local country, the whole process will take a lot of time and effort.
Therefore, you’d better do a quality inspection before shipping. For unqualified products, you can immediately communicate with the factory and ask them to re-produce or compensate you.
Estimate sourcing time
If you just want to buy off-the-shelf products or make some minor adjustments to those existing products, the sourcing time is relatively short, including manufacturing lead time and shipping time. But if you want complex customization or to create new products, this time will be longer. Usually, it might be three to four months, sometimes it might even be six to eight months.
Therefore, before you source from China, you’d better estimate the sourcing time.
Not focus only on low prices
Although you can get huge profit margins from Chinese manufacturers, price should not be the only factor to consider. If your supplier offers a much lower price than others, he may cut corners on raw material quality, packaging, and other aspects. Remember that quality is directly proportional to cost. Your consumers won’t pay for your low-quality products.
