China is the fourth largest country in the world in size and the largest country in terms of population. It is also the second largest economy in the world – and growing. This makes China a very interesting nation in which to do business. However, interacting is not always easy,...
This is a tough topic to tackle. Most of us would like to think that Chinese suppliers are nice and honest, they just focus on making a living, the best they can. We don’t want to even think that some of them can be dishonest, and worse, that some of...
Lately, negative feelings about doing business with China have noticeably increased. We note this is happening not just here in the USA, but in many other places in the world including Europe, Australia, South America and South East Asian countries like Malaysia. The reason this has developed this way goes...
Transport cost and time remain the main determinants for businesses and wholesalers to decide their sourcing locations. At first, it seems that there are many different costs, procedures, and variables to think about when deciding whether to source from China. We hope to share some advice based on our experience...
Have you been seeing price increases from your suppliers/factories? How do you plan to place orders when faced with rising prices? Purchasing in China has faced these challenges in recent years due to COVID-19 and its aftermath: maintaining inventory, global inflation, unstable exchange rates, panic hoarding, etc. State of Flux...
Many new importers find that they only have a very vague idea of how long it really takes to receive their product when purchasing in China. This is because many of them have experience buying from distributors or wholesalers here in the US, so the timeline is rarely clear. In...
We are the age of information. All of it is readily available at your fingertips. And for many, the problem is no longer finding suppliers, but rather, qualifying suppliers. We previously wrote about how to verify factories (see China sourcing: How to verify factories). Since this blog, new importers continue to ask...
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...