Category: Recommended Articles

Why does everything have to be so hard when dealing with Chinese suppliers? You send emails, and barely even get a reply.

You put together the best mood board ever, communicating the ‘feeling’ you want for your spring collection – and your supplier don’t even bother to comment on it.

The communication between overseas buyers, especially those in the West, and Chinese suppliers, is at best dysfunctional. Most often, it’s a complete disaster, that results in severe quality issues and huge losses for both sides.

In this article, I share my 5 best tips for effectively communicating with your supplier, so that you can avoid misunderstandings and delays.

1. Be overly clear and concise in your communication

In manufacturing, one must think, and communicate, as an engineer. However, Alibaba.com and Globalsources.com have essentially opened up contract manufacturing to every Entrepreneur on the planet.

As a result, many business owners without manufacturing or product development background venture into a field they have no experience in.

I see this all the time, with vague and open ended product specifications. Or worse, ‘inspirational documents’ that will ‘communicate a vision’ to the supplier.

Manufacturers don’t want or need your ‘vision’ or ‘inspiration’. They assemble your product for a quick profit and that’s it.

They want spec sheets, design drawings, label files and bill of materials. That’s the universal language of manufacturing.

In addition, most Chinese engineers and sales reps are far from fluent English speakers.

Thus, keep your communication as clear and concise as possible. Use bullet points and short, standardized documents. Continue reading 5 Best Practices for Efficient Communication with Chinese Suppliers

About to visit a new supplier in China? In this article, Renaud Anjoran of Sofeast Ltd and CMC Consultants in Shenzhen, explains what every importer must know about factory visits.

Keep reading, and learn the following:

a. The top reasons why supplier visits are important

b. The ‘right time’ to visit your supplier

c. How to plan your trip to China

d. What to look for in the factory, and what questions to ask Continue reading Supplier Visits in China: A How to Guide for Startups

Suggestion: Watch the 10 minutes video tutorial before reading this article

Today, most suppliers in China hold export licenses. But, it was not always that way, and there are still factories that lack them.

In this article, we explain what Importers must know about Export licenses in China – and how you can buy from a suppliers without one.

What is an Export license?

An Export license, or Export permit, is a document issued to companies by China’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.

The Export license is required for shipping goods out of China. Without such a license, the cargo will not be cleared through the Chinese customs.

As such, most export oriented suppliers, both manufacturers and trading companies, hold Export licenses.

Shall the Supplier or the Buyer apply for the Export license?

The Export licenses are only issued to Chinese companies, that wish to export goods from China to overseas markets.

Hence, overseas buyers don’t need to obtain license or permit in China. Continue reading China Export Licenses and Permits: A Complete Guide

Buyer references are taken for granted in many countries. I mean, how else do you know that you can trust a potential supplier. And after all, they should work to sell themselves to you, not the other way around. Well, that’s how things should be. However, there’s a gap between how things should be, and the reality of a Chinese supplier.

In this article, we explain why many Chinese suppliers aren’t overly keen on sharing information about their existing buyers, and why you are part of the problem. We also explain why testimonials aren’t that relevant to begin with, in the world of OEM manufacturing.

1. Suppliers fear their competitors might approach their customers

Transparency is, for many reasons, an alien concept to most Chinese manufacturers. My personal experience, when discussing this matter with factory managers in the country, is that most consider giving away customer references, or testimonials, as an invitation to their competitors to move in on them.

And, they are right. Considering how price sensitive many buyers are, suppliers do well to hide their customer base from competing manufacturers. Continue reading Checking Buyer Reference When Buying from Chinese Suppliers

Lead times, when outsourcing production to Asia, involves much more than assembly, packing and shipment. Yet, many importers are far too optimistic about the time it actually takes to get from deposit payment to delivered produce.

In this blog post, we guide you through the four phases of production, quality assurance and delivery. We also explain how you by simple measures can reduce the risks for serious delays, and why you need to consider the risk of quality issues.

1. Tooling Production

Custom designed products, and components, often require additional tooling, such as injection molds. Prints, for example logos, may also require additional tooling, which by most manufacturers must be ordered from a subcontractor. Making, and adjusting, a new mold may take anything between 14 to 60 days, depending on its complexity. However, the tooling is usually good for more than one order, sometimes hundreds of thousands of units. In other words, this lead time can be deducted from all future orders. Continue reading Production & Lead Time in Asia: A Complete Guide