For years, many retail companies have been moving towards online stores and shopping, and the pandemic served to accelerate this trend. Being the end user, this meant new choices and new experiences, real multiple channels to buy merchandise. For businesses supplying these end users, omnichannel retail has become a hot...
Buying from China is exciting, but it is also complicated. This is why most importers have trusted agents in China for sourcing. The role and benefit of sourcing agents is a topic that often comes up and we have covered it in a previous blog, (See Are You Leaving Money...
We have been helping importers manage their China direct buying for 45+ years now and many that come to us for help share a common concern – pricing. However, one of the very first questions we ask new clients is – what is your target pricing? Many of them...
In this highly competitive world, there are many possible Chinese suppliers and manufacturers for your goods. It can be difficult to identify the “best fit” to meet specific needs and requirements when you buy direct from China. In an April 2019 blog, we addressed a similar issue: How-to of Qualifying...
We were all new importers at one time even if some of us (not me!) are now wise and savvy with our years of experience. We all remember things we wish we had known when we first started China sourcing company Today, we see new importers popping up everywhere, they...
How you establish the terms for a working relationship with a factory, especially in the context of China direct buying, can really set the tone for the remainder of the production process. The Request For Quotation (RFQ) is thus a crucial step in your China sourcing program to ensure the...
A China sourcing agency is the best way to support a sourcing program: all your issues are addressed from placing orders to quality assurance to on-time delivery. But (there always seems to be a “but”) it requires an investment. How do we know all that? Well, we have one, obviously....
Recently, I read an article on QualityInspection.org, “The Danger of Choosing a ‘Cheap’ Chinese Factory.” The objective of most companies with China sourcing programs is to save money, it stands to reason that many importers are looking for cheap Chinese factories. But what happens when saving money becomes, in effect,...
