Category: Companies

List of Sourcing Companies in Thailand: A Comparison

Posted on by Ika Liu — Leave a comment

Thailand sourcing agencies

Thailand is often overlooked as a manufacturing destination these days. While there’s a lot of hype surrounding Vietnam, and other “anywhere but China” destinations – Thailand is a more realistic option for small buyers and Amazon sellers.

In order to find qualified suppliers, you’ll likely need a sourcing company based in the kingdom.

In this article, we list some of Thailand’s leading sourcing companies covering a wide range of product categories.

Continue reading List of Sourcing Companies in Thailand: A Comparison

Top 9 Fulfillment Centers in China and Hong Kong 2019

Posted on by Fredrik Gronkvist — 3 Comments

HK Fulfillment Centres

A Hong Kong or Mainland China-based fulfillment center can help you distribute products directly from the factory to customers all over the world.

In this article, we list the leading China-based fulfillment centers, including ZhenHub, Floship, Easyship, Exchain, Shipwire, and others.

In addition, we cover the following:

1. Potential tax issues with cross border e-commerce fulfillment

2. When does it make sense to use a fulfillment center in Hong Kong or Mainland China?

3. Should you select a fulfillment center in Hong Kong or Mainland China?

4. Interview with Floship founder Steven Suh

What is a fulfillment center?

Fulfillment center offers e-commerce merchants warehousing (storage) and shipping services, that allows online businesses to operate without owning their own warehouse or physical storage space.

Sellers or e-commerce merchants can directly send their inventory to the fulfillment center from where it is shipped to their customers.

Most fulfillment centers are integrated with e-commerce marketplaces and platforms like Amazon (which also operate their own fulfillment centers, Shopify, and eBay, making it easier for merchants to manage inventory and delivery products. Continue reading Top 9 Fulfillment Centers in China and Hong Kong 2019

List of Sourcing Companies in Vietnam: Top 7 Agencies

Posted on by Fredrik Gronkvist — 4 Comments

vietnam sourcing company

Vietnam is quickly becoming a serious manufacturing alternative to China, especially for American importers vary of the ongoing US-China trade war. That said, Vietnamese suppliers are not as easy to find on Alibaba.com or Globalsources.com, compared to their Chinese counterparts.

As such, many importers turn to Vietnam based sourcing companies, with vast local supplier networks.

In this article, we list five of Vietnam’s leading sourcing agencies, all located in Asia’s fastest growing manufacturing hub – Ho Chi Minh City.

Do I need a sourcing company when importing from Vietnam?

You can of course attempt to source Vietnamese directly, using Alibaba.com or even a Google search. However, Vietnamese suppliers tend to have a rather small online footprint, making them harder to find.

Those that do have a larger online presence tend to be larger suppliers, which tend to have little interest in working with small buyers.

Vietnam based sourcing companies can bridge that gap, using their local network and expertise to match you with a qualified supplier.

I’d say that sourcing agents provide more value in Vietnam, compared to more developed manufacturing countries like China. Continue reading List of Sourcing Companies in Vietnam: Top 7 Agencies

List of Rapid Prototyping Companies in China

Posted on by Ika Liu — Leave a comment

Looking for a rapid prototyping company before you enter production? In this article, we list lading rapid prototyping service providers based in Mainland China and Hong Kong:

  • Esun
  • HLH
  • 3ERP
  • 3D Printing Lab
  • VPrint 3D
  • Kai Gong
  • Deep Mould
  • SuNPe
  • Vowin

What is Rapid Prototyping?

Rapid Prototyping enables you to quickly, sometimes in a matter of days, create a physical product model. This model can serve as a proof of concept, or even for functionality testing, before you invest in more expensive tooling such as injections molds.

Continue reading List of Rapid Prototyping Companies in China

List of Quality Inspection Companies in India

Posted on by Ika Liu — Leave a comment

Shifting production to factories in India? Then it’s in your best interest to reach out to one of the quality control firms listed in this article – ready to send out their agents to factories located across the great subcontinent.

Is it necessary to book a quality inspection when importing from India?

The risk of quality issues is always relatively high when outsourcing production to other countries, India included. Once the goods are shipped there’s no turning back, as there’s no simple legal or economically viable way to either request a refund or return the goods.

Continue reading List of Quality Inspection Companies in India

List of Quality Inspection Companies in Vietnam

Posted on by Ika Liu — 2 Comments

quality inspection in vietnam

About to place your first order with a factory in Vietnam? Then you should contact one of the quality inspection companies listed in this article to verify that your products match your requirements – before it’s too late.

Keep in mind that the risk of quality issues is not lower in Vietnam compared to other low-cost manufacturing countries in the region.

Company Overview

  • Sofeast
  • Quality Control Inspections Vietnam
  • Vietnam Quality Control
  • OFCO Group
  • AS International
  • Vinacert
  • QIMA

How much does a quality inspection in Vietnam cost?

Most companies charge between US$350 to US$400 per inspection in Vietnam. This is significantly higher than in China, where an inspection sometimes can be booked for less than US$200.

While labor costs are lower in Vietnam, the supply chain service industry is not nearly as developed or competitive as in China. Continue reading List of Quality Inspection Companies in Vietnam

List of Hardware Accelerators in HK and Shenzhen

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hardware-accelerators

Hardware Accelerators, such as HAX and Brinc.io, provides the brains, muscles, and capital to bring innovative ideas into commercial products. In this article, we explain how Hardware Accelerators operate, and what differs them from sourcing agents and manufacturers.

In addition, we also list leading Hardware Accelerators in Hong Kong and Shenzhen:

  • Hax.co
  • Brinc.io
  • Highway 1
  • Shenzhen Valley Ventures
  • Hong Kong Design Incubation Programme
  • iDM-Square Hardware Accelerator
  • ReadWrite Labs

Continue reading List of Hardware Accelerators in HK and Shenzhen

List of Product Photo Companies in China & Hong Kong

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product photography

Looking for an Ecommerce or Amazon product photo studio? In this article, we list product photography studios in Hong Kong and Mainland China.

In addition, we also explain how much you should expect to pay, how to submit samples, and why you shouldn’t ask your supplier to take free product photos for you. Continue reading List of Product Photo Companies in China & Hong Kong

List of Shipping Companies in Vietnam: Top 7 Forwarders

Posted on by Fredrik Gronkvist — 3 Comments

Vietnam forwarders

Exploring your options to shift production from China to Vietnam? You might find that your existing freight forwarder network doesn’t even operate in the latter. To make things a bit easier for you, we’ve compiled a list of shipping companies based in Vietnam. In addition, we also cover the following:

  • What should I look for when selecting a freight forwarder?
  • How do I get the cheapest freight rate from Vietnam?
  • I need to ship materials and components from China to Vietnam. How do I arrange that?

What should I look for when selecting a freight forwarder?

You don’t necessarily need to work with a forwarder that is headquartered in Vietnam, to import goods from the country. That said, far from all freight forwarders operate in Vietnam, which is, therefore, the primary selection criteria.

Keep in mind that most forwarders covering Vietnam don’t have their own offices or warehouses there, but work closely with local agencies. There’s nothing odd with this setup. It’s simply the way the logistics industry works. Once you’ve worked out whether your forwarder can manage shipments from Vietnam, I suggest you ask them the following questions:

  • Which ports in Vietnam are covered in your network?
  • Do they have their own offices in Vietnam, or do they work with third parties?
  • Do they offer land transport between Vietnam and China?
  • Do they offer domestic land transportation?
  • Do you handle both sea and air freight?
  • Do you offer LCL shipping?

Continue reading List of Shipping Companies in Vietnam: Top 7 Forwarders

Top 8 Sourcing Companies and Agents in China 2019

Posted on by Fredrik Gronkvist — 33 Comments

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A Sourcing Company can be an invaluable partner when importing products from China. Or, they can be a useless middleman that offers nothing but delays and higher unit prices.

This is not a regulated industry, so anyone can claim qualifications to manage product and supplier sourcing.

In this article, you will learn what a sourcing company can do for you – and how much you should expect to pay them.

In addition, we also list some of the leading sourcing companies in Mainland China and Hong Kong S.A.R.

Why should I work with a Sourcing Company?

The core function of a sourcing company is to identify qualified suppliers, based on the customer’s needs and technical requirements.

There are no industry standards for how the supplier sourcing process is managed. Some Sourcing Companies have a more relationship-based approach, funneling customers to their existing supplier network.

This can be a win-win for both you and the sourcing companies, assuming they select suppliers based on the product’s technical specifications – rather than the size of the kickbacks they receive.

I’d say that most sourcing companies put kickbacks before selecting the supplier that is the most qualified to make a certain product.

Most sourcing companies can do a lot more than just, well, sourcing products.

For example, some can help you with factory audits, quality inspections, contracts, quality assurance and day to day administration.

As said, there are no set industry standards, so you need to discuss this with your Sourcing Company.

How do sourcing companies charge for their services?

Previously, most sourcing companies charged a commission based on the order value. However, in recent years, more and more sourcing companies have adopted fixed pricing.

Thus, they charge based on a per project or service basis, rather than a commission.

Of course, the final cost depends on what exactly you want the sourcing company to do for you. Continue reading Top 8 Sourcing Companies and Agents in China 2019