When an importer begins their quest to source products in China, they typically know what they want, but they are not always as clear about what they need. What is the difference between “want” and “need”? Well, it mostly has to do with details; all the things you need to...
As we all know, Christmas and Thanksgiving in the U.S. can cause delays in business due to scheduled closures. But did you also plan for possible delays due to holidays observed in China? If you buy direct from China, you need to know exactly how these holidays affect Chinese exports....
Background Getting a foothold in a burgeoning market can be daunting. Every decision can make or break your venture. Trying to manage this process while sourcing in China only compounds the challenge. As Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) concerns began to dominate the business marketplace, one promotional products company had...
For those involved with global sourcing, we trust you experienced three unusual years since Covid broke out at the end of 2019. If you have been sourcing high volumes of “Made in China” goods, do you trust China more or less given the challenges that emerged alongside Covid? From our...
Current tariffs and selling restrictions with China have been an ongoing and popular topic in the press and an especially important issue for businesses sourcing from China. One of the benefits of this kind of activity is that importers are focused on reducing COGS (Cost of goods sold). A recent...
Last week’s blog touched on Alibaba as a platform for buyers and how it may be different from “doing it the hard way” like traditional importers do. If you haven’t read that blog yet, you can check it out here. In that blog, we spoke about what sourcing with platforms...
In the game of business, there are two categories of players: the buyers and the sellers. When negotiating contract terms, the buyers have the upper hand and the sellers cooperate for obvious reasons – they want to close the sale. Most of the time, buyers are well prepared and know...
In the past, we have had plenty of experience with companies that are just getting their start with sourcing from China. Either they are moving part of their supply chain there, or they are creating a new supply chain from scratch. One thing that most new China importers have...