Dos and Donts of Product Sourcing from China

Sourcing products and raw materials from China has increased these days, especially to the UK and other parts of the European Union. There is a huge cost advantage that is seen when goods are imported

hen you have decided to do product sourcing from China, you will have to take the next steps very meticulously. You will have to make sure that your specifications or requirements are spot on, concise, clear and easily comprehensible. You will have to get into greater details for the product specifications and make sure that everything is well documented and easily understood. A good product document will be of great help when you are sourcing goods from multiple china suppliers.

When you are dealing with the China suppliers, you may have to visit them in the beginning phase, but later on, you will have to manage everything remotely. When you don’t have well documented product specifications, you will find yourself travelling very frequently to China to resolve issues"minor as well as major. If you don’t want to travel very frequently, you can have regular video conferencing. Such communication methods are cheaper and very convenient as well.

When you are selecting multiple suppliers, you will have to check if they have exported to your country in the past. This is very important because suppliers who have never done exporting to your country may spend some time in identifying ways of doing so. It is always good to ask the suppliers a few important questions such as: Do you know English (if you are from UK)? Do you provide high quality goods? Are you aware of customs regulations? Are you aware of the logistics requirements?

The answers to these questions will give you a clear idea of the businesses process of the suppliers and they will also give you insights into their capabilities. Before you importing from china to UK, you will have to do a thorough analysis of the supplier. You should always take references from the china suppliers to conduct a background check. In fact, you should take references of the importers from your own country. Most importers visit the china suppliers’ offices, which does not help much. You should always make it a point to visit the factory of the china supplier so that you get an idea of the manufacturing process.

You will have to take a complete tour of the factory when it is in full functioning so that you get a complete view of their process. If you have a large order, you would generally look at larger suppliers. Well, there are some problems that you may run into when you select a large supplier in China. Most large suppliers have several clients and their business reach is wider as compared to the smaller suppliers.

When you give an order to the large supplier, you may not get the personal attention that you may need. You may even have to constantly follow up for the shipment and delivery of the desired goods. Conversely, when you select smaller suppliers, they will provide you with personal attention as they don’t have many customers. They will also assign a project manager who will liaise with you and the factory employees. A good  suppliers from china will give you good references of the suppliers.