It goes without saying, China sourcing is hard, especially for westerners who do not have a sourcing office in China. As China sourcing veterans, we meet with a lot of companies that are concerned about these sourcing challenges. The following is a brief summary of the main issues we encountered...
Most importers know that the Chinese New Year can wreak havoc on your China supply chain. Also, known as the Spring Festival, the Chinese New Year starts on the 2nd full moon after the winter solstice. This is a 15-day holiday celebrated by 1/6 of the world population or...
Do you know how much your purchasing department is spending on their China supply chain? Do you consider yourself a Purchasing Manager who’s “reactive” or “proactive”? The reactive approach tends to manage based on complaints. No complaints means purchasing is doing a pretty good job. The pro-active approach instead, negotiates...
CPG is most commonly known as an acronym for Consumer Packaged Goods. And when you think of CPG, as an importer, things like apparel and footwear come to mind – things that get used up and have to be replaced frequently. So naturally, if you already know you have to...
As a China supply chain management company, we get asked about efficiency issues all the time. There are vital steps in the China supply chain management process. For instance, there is a wide range of quality control issues from quality inspections to ensuring that, from sampling to shipment, your product...
I often hear the saying, “the greater the risk; the greater the reward.” Although the risk/reward concept makes sense in most cases, let us not exaggerate. Importing from China is a risky and complex process in and of itself, if you want to reap rewards from it, you must do...
We hear it all the time from importers sourcing from China, “I can’t find a factory to manufacture my products!” This is especially so when the product you are seeking to source is unusual: you will not have any difficulty finding factories for white T-shirts or running shoes, this only...
Let’s look at the whole picture: How much does China sourcing support really cost you? Looks like this series has created quite a stir. I appreciate the feedback, especially from the last blog. Since this is the last of the series, lets do a quick re-cap. The series addressed the...
