{"id":359,"date":"2018-08-03T20:26:02","date_gmt":"2018-08-03T10:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/34.220.156.218\/blog\/?p=359"},"modified":"2023-10-07T16:23:44","modified_gmt":"2023-10-07T06:23:44","slug":"podcast-sourcing-suppliers-alibaba-online-import-export","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/incodocs.com\/blog\/podcast-sourcing-suppliers-alibaba-online-import-export\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast &#8211; Sourcing goods from Alibaba with Heather from Sourcing Playground"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Import Export Podcast<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather from <a href=\"https:\/\/sourcingplayground.com\/\">Sourcing Playground<\/a> explains how buyers should correctly <a href=\"https:\/\/jingsourcing.com\/6-chinese-wholesale-websites\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Heather from Sourcing Playground explains how buyers should correctly source imported goods from online marketplaces such as Alibaba, Made-In-China, Global Sources others.&nbsp; Heather gives key tips on how to correctly give suppliers detailed product information, how to compare supplier's quotations and product specifications, overcome language and cultural barriers, understand if you are dealing with a factory or trading company and how to negotiate pricing with suppliers. (opens in a new tab)\">source imported goods from online marketplaces<\/a> such as Alibaba, Made-In-China, Global Sources others.&nbsp; Heather gives key tips on how to correctly give suppliers detailed product information, how to compare supplier&#8217;s quotations and product specifications, overcome language and cultural barriers, understand if you are dealing with a factory or trading company and how to negotiate pricing with suppliers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Topics Covered:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><strong><strong>When sourcing from online marketplaces, what should a new buyer do to contact new suppliers?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><strong><strong>How many suppliers should your source and compare?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><strong><strong>How do you know if you are dealing with a factory or a trading company?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><strong><strong>What are the pros and cons of working with a factory VS working with a trading company?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><strong><strong>What is the best way to negotiate pricing with suppliers?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><strong><strong>How should you arrange samples with suppliers?&nbsp; Would you suggest to get exact samples made up and sent to you by airfreight?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><strong><strong>What is Sourcing Playground and how does it help buyers source new suppliers online?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><strong><strong>How does Sourcing Playground reduce the time it takes to find a suitable supplier?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><strong><strong>What are some key tips to give new buyers when sourcing a new supplier?<\/strong> <\/strong><\/strong><br><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-left\">Listen to Podcast:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/anchor.fm\/incodocs\/embed\/episodes\/How-to-Source-Imported-Goods-from-Alibaba-with-Heather-from-Sourcing-Playground-e205nm\" height=\"102px\" width=\"400px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-left\">Watch Webinar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rE14hqGDq6Y?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Are you working on innovative solutions for the Supply Chain? Contact us for Media partnership opportunities.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button aligncenter\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/incodocs.typeform.com\/to\/qNgOq4\">Contact Us<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:61px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Read full Transcript here:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 01:13 <br>\nHi everybody, it&#8217;s Ben Thompson here and welcome to the\nImport-Export podcast. Today, we&#8217;re talking about how to source products online\nfrom online databases such as Alibaba and others. Sourcing products online\ngives new buyers opportunity to instantly find suppliers for the products that\nthey need. Today, we&#8217;re joined by Heather Williams from Sourcing Playground.\nWelcome to the show, Heather. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 25:02 <br>\nWelcome. Thanks very much, Ben. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 26:22 <br>\nSo, today, Heather and I want to give listeners some key tips on how to\ncorrectly source suppliers online. It can be sometimes quite a confusing and\nfrustrating process. And we want to break down it into some easy to understand\nparts to give you some tips on how you can improve that process. So, before we get\nstarted today, Heather, I understand you&#8217;ve had quite a bit of experience when\nit comes to sourcing products from factories in Asia. Can you give me a bit of\ninformation on this experience you&#8217;ve had in this industry? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 58:06<br>\nYeah. So, I used to work as a buyer and I used to work for product development\nspecifically in consumer electronics. So, products around mobile phone\naccessories, chargers, speakers, headphones, these type of products. And, we\nused to work with outsourced manufacturers in China. So, I dealt with the whole\nprocess from sourcing factories and visiting the factories, specifically in\nChina, have been to Hong Kong factories and the trade shows to see new\nup-and-coming technologies and suppliers and I&#8217;ve been involved with the whole\nprocess of sourcing suppliers. So, for example, the negotiation part, the\nactual product development and product marketing and road mapping. And, yeah,\nso I&#8217;ve had a really good insight into the both buyer side and also the\nmanufacturing side being visiting China a few times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 01:49:05<br>\nYeah, that sounds great. It&#8217;s important, as you mentioned, to understand both\nparts of the supply chain, I guess. You got to understand the product. So,\nsourcing the right factory is only part of the process but you also have to\nunderstand your market, how you can sell these products, right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 02:06:18<br>\nExactly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 02:07:19<br>\nSo, yeah, as a typical process, say, I&#8217;m an importer and I want to buy, I want\nto source a new supplier for a 20-foot container of furniture products. There&#8217;s\nplenty of online databases out there, marketplaces of suppliers. Say, I come\nacross Alibaba or something similar, what are some key tips you can give us\nabout what I should do firstly? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 02:30:21<br>\nYeah, so I would say the most important thing for a buyer to do is really do\nyour product research. So, go online. There are so much resources and you know\nhow to make your product. Go online and look at YouTube videos and literally\nthe process of how to make that product. Find out the components and the\nmaterials that you use. For example, is there a process within making your\nproduct that is quite difficult? Basically, trying to understand from a\nmanufacturer side of you, &#8220;Okay, what are the challenges and what happens\nin that process of making that product?&#8221; And the more you can build up\nyour knowledge on the product, you&#8217;re selling these to consumers. The better\nyou know about the product the better anyway. And it also gives you a very good\npoint for negotiation when you understand the product, then you&#8217;re able to\noffer also inputs and if there&#8217;s a challenge with a certain process of\ndeveloping that product you can actually offer guidance and help. \u201cOkay, this\nis how we can solve it and you can input that.&#8221; And then, I would say, you\ngo and do keyword searches for your product. What are the key manufacturers out\nthere? They&#8217;re doing it obviously, if you&#8217;re on Alibaba, you can search for the\nproduct you&#8217;re looking for and it will show you different factories that come\nup and who can make them for you. And, researching that company listing to make\nsure that the product, how many factories can make that product? Is it a niche\nproduct? Is it something that only a specialised number of manufacturers can do\nor is it quite a competitive marketplace? In which case, there will be lots of\nsuppliers, it will be able to develop that product. And, typically, and\nobviously, in a competitive market, obviously, you&#8217;re talking about pricing and\npricing will be competitive, then, new challenges will come up with that.\nUsually, when you have competitive market, there&#8217;s a race to the bottom in\nterms of pricing. So, really do your due diligence and make sure you know. Once\nyou&#8217;ve done that product research, you know what the average buy price for that\nproduct should be. So, if someone, a manufacturer, offers you a very, very low\nprice, you should be sort of wary of, \u201cOkay, how they got to that price and\nwhat are they compromising to make sure they can hit that price.\u201d So, as much\nas possible, before you even go and talk to suppliers, know your product,\nresearch how to make it, what is the average buy price, find out how much of\nthe components cost. Do your research and do the calculations. Can you find out\nand sort of model and simulate how much it would cost to make that product?\nObviously, factor in the overheads, that type of thing but try and sort of come\nup with a price that you think is reasonable. And, another thing is to find out\nhow long that supplier has been running for. So, are they a new player in the\nmarket and they&#8217;ve only been running for a couple of years or is this sort of a\n15, 20-year supplier that have had massive recommendations that have worked\nwith key leading companies and brands? So, really understand who you&#8217;re working\nwith. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 05:19:08<br>\nYeah. I find it interesting whom you mentioned that the new buyers should\nreally understand their product first. It&#8217;s surprising how many people I&#8217;ve\ntalked to that have tried going through this process and they might find\nsuppliers online and send them an enquiry and go, \u201cI want to buy furniture\nproducts.\u201d And, they have, they don&#8217;t provide the factories of any sort of\ndetail on the material, on the sizes, on the specifications, on similar\nproducts or even understand how that&#8217;s put together. And it&#8217;s important, I\nthink, that people realise that they&#8217;re dealing with factories, they have to\nbuy the raw materials, they have to put these components together and if you&#8217;re\nnot communicating that properly, well, then, they, a) they&#8217;re probably not going\nto take you seriously or, b) you\u2019re not going to get any products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 06:04:18<br>\nExactly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 06:07:03<br>\nSo, yeah. And when you source products online, how many suppliers would you\nrecommend that I should compare? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 06:17:23<br>\nSo, I would say you can break this down into two sections. So, you would send\nan initial intro, introductory email. So, this introductory email, you want to\nbe sending out to as many people as possible because you will, a) not likely\nhave people reply because usually, you&#8217;ll be getting a generic info at the\nemail address. People won\u2019t able to know the exact products you&#8217;re looking for.\nSo, this intro email, you want sending out to as many different people as\npossible. And in your email, you want to basically say who you are, what you&#8217;re\ndoing and what your plans are. You want to be detailing a little bit about the\nproducts you&#8217;re looking for and explain the product. I&#8217;m looking for roughly, I\ndon&#8217;t know, this chair in this sort of price bracket, am I looking for a low or\nhigh price, just to give them an idea of what you&#8217;re talking about. In this\nemail, you want to be sending out to as many people as you can. And just start\nto build up maybe a list of all the ones that then start to reply. And then, I\nwould say you would follow this into the second part where you sort of start to\nnarrow down the search of, \u201cOkay, what are they like at communication? Can they\nactually produce the product? Are they in the best manufacturing location that\nI want?\u201d All these questions that you need to take into consideration. Then,\nyou start to narrow down your search. And then, I would suggest you would, as\nmuch as possible, have video calls or voice calls or actually speak to the\nfactory you&#8217;re dealing with. There are loads of different online softwares you\ncan use now if your supplier is on the other side of the world. You have Skype,\nZoom, Appear In. Manufacturers often use WhatsApp so you can use the voice\ncall, the video call on WhatsApp. They&#8217;re really, really quick and easy to use.\nYou use these tools as much as possible to build up that real personal\nconnection and personal relationship. So, that supplier knows that you&#8217;re\nserious and you want to work with a long-standing supplier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 08:06:14<br>\nYeah, absolutely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 08:07:16<br>\nAnd then, in this second, you would then send a brief of all of the exact\nproducts you&#8217;re looking for. So, after you&#8217;ve done your research and you know\nwhat you&#8217;re looking for and you can clearly detail the specifications and\nfeatures for every single product you need. Then, you would need to send a\nbrief to the suppliers you\u2019re looking for. And in this brief, usually, this is\ndone like a really, really simple Excel document. So, you list every product by\nline and you would list the quantities, the MOQs, the target price you&#8217;re\nlooking for, the actual specification for all of them and the lead time, so how\nlong you need for them to be manufactured and what\u2019s the average time it takes\nthem to manufacture. And, basically, this is a brief that you would send out to\nall the suppliers that you&#8217;re really sort of considering. These suppliers,\nthen, are sort of your core shortlisted suppliers and these are the ones you\nshould start really taking time to understand and doing your research about\nthat supplier, talking to them on video calls, asking to see customer\ntestimonials. Do they have any other customer testimonials? What brands have\nthey worked with before? Can you access them on social media? Are they even on\nsocial media and do they have a website? And really doing your research around\nthese number of suppliers and I would recommend around five to ten you should\nbe looking at when you&#8217;re looking at pricing. And it would just start to give\nyou a better understanding and give you a range of pricing and different options\nto look from. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 09:40:17<br>\nYeah, I think it&#8217;s invaluable. As you mentioned, actually having face-to-face\nconversations with these potential suppliers because, in some cases, right, you\ncould get a feel for their operations and the people, the person you&#8217;re dealing\nwith in the factory. Are they at the factory? Are they not at the factory? Are\nthey legitimate? You get so much more than just sending an email, right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 10:05:01<br>\nYeah, massively. And they appreciate that on their side. A lot of people don&#8217;t\nactually take the time to speak to each other. So, if you&#8217;re the customer,\nthere is wants to talk to them, wants to find out how to help and really take a\nproactive approach in the sourcing process and they respond really well to\nthat. They like it. So, manufacturers always ask you to come and visit their\nfactories to try and build that gap between the both and try and meet them\nhalfway. Fair enough if you can&#8217;t fly out twice, three times a year to the\nother side of world, that&#8217;s fine, but okay try and see how you can manage it in\na different way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 10:39:02<br>\nYeah, great. And when it comes to talking to these people, there&#8217;s a lot of\nopposing opinions and pros and cons when it comes to, &#8220;Am I dealing with a\nfactory or am I dealing with a trading company? Sometimes it&#8217;s blurred lines\nbut I believe that dealing with a trading company is not essentially a bad\nthing all the time. Can you give some pros and cons as compared to a) how can\nyou find out whether they are a factory or a trading company and b) what are\nthe pros and cons of dealing with each? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 11:19:03<br>\nYeah, sure. So, a trading company, in essence, is they&#8217;re the middleman between\na buyer and a factory. So, typically, this trader or a sourcing agent, they\nhave a large database of factories they can use. So, from a positive point of\nview is that 1) they have access to lots of factories that they\u2019re used to\ndealing with. So, usually, the process is quite smooth on their half. So, they\nalready have the contact details and the initial process tends to be a bit\nfaster. So, they already have all the contacts, all the details and they can\nstart the process a lot faster for you. They also can help with negotiation.\nThey&#8217;re often buying in large bulks for different clients so they can often\npiggy bank two orders together and try and get a better price for both their\nbuyers, which is really helpful. Another thing is that, when you&#8217;re a\nfirst-time buyer, there are so many things you have to learn about. You have to\nknow about the product, you have to learn about shipping, your actual product\ndevelopment process and it can be quite a daunting task. So, this trader or\nsourcing agent really helps you in that middle section and they basically help\nyou&#8211; they will liaise with the factories if you want. If there are\ndifficulties with communication, they can go back and forth and do the legwork\nbecause there is a lot of back-and-forths literally for months. It can take six\nmonths, twelve months to develop a product for example. And if you&#8217;re a\nbusiness owner that has to do other things, then you need that time to be able\nto focus on other areas of your business. So, that&#8217;s really where a sourcing\nagent comes into hand. And I would say, though, to be careful with sourcing\nagents because 1) it\u2019s difficult to track the consistency of the product. So,\nwhen they&#8217;re sourcing from different factories, consistency of product quality\nis really, really important. And you want to make sure that you&#8217;re controlling\nall of the supply chains. And if you&#8217;ve got someone in between, then it adds\nanother link in a chain and adds one more section that everyone needs to\nconsider. So, really be careful on who you&#8217;re working with. If you are working\nwith a trader, then really know them and do your due diligence around them.\nYeah. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 13:39:15<br>\nYeah. I think I&#8217;ve come across a lot of people that think that it&#8217;s a very bad\nthing to deal with a trading company but as you mentioned there are so many\nbenefits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 13:49:13<br>\nAbsolutely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 13:51:10<br>\nAs you mentioned, they can get access to so many different suppliers. They can\nget things done quickly. So, people should consider that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 13:55:23<br>\nDefinitely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 13:58:19<br>\nAnd so, when it comes to&#8211; you&#8217;ve researched online, you&#8217;ve narrowed your list\ndown to say, five suppliers and they&#8217;re all around the same pricing and\nspecification. Let&#8217;s talk about the negotiation process. Some people sometimes\ncan think that you can really push suppliers right down on pricing but they\nseem to forget that they want a quality product at the same time and what are\nyou going to pay for? So, I feel it&#8217;s a quite a fine line between negotiating a\ngood price and a price where factories are just going to try. They want your\norder, they&#8217;ll accept it but they&#8217;ll be like, \u201cOkay now, how am I going to cut\ncorners here?\u201d So, it&#8217;s very risky. How would you suggest to go through that\nnegotiation process? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 14:49:06<br>\nSo, again, this starts off of knowing your product. So, and only until you know\nyour product, then you&#8217;ll know the average or realistic price it costs to\nmanufacture. And then, you will start to build up a better picture. So, you&#8217;ve\ndone your research and you find out, okay, for example, it costs $10 to make\nthis product on average and then you&#8217;ve gone to speak to, I don\u2019t know, 20-30\ndifferent suppliers and you&#8217;ve narrowed that down to about five or ten. And\nthese suppliers are all in range with about $2 each side. You&#8217;ve got something\nfrom $8 to $12 dollars. So, this, already you start to see&#8211; you map out the\npricing on a realistic scale and you can also justify your pricing because if a\nsupplier here is telling you supplier A is saying, \u201cOkay, it\u2019s costing me $9,\u201d\nand then another manufacturer is saying, \u201cIt&#8217;s costing me $30.\u201d Then, you&#8217;ve\nalready built up your own knowledge to realise, \u201cHang on, I think that&#8217;s a\nlittle bit outside the scope and that can be negotiated a lot further down.\u201d\nWhereas if a supplier is telling you, \u201cOkay, I can manufacture this for $3.\u201d\n&#8220;Okay, this is starting to feel a little bit&#8211; okay, there&#8217;s going to be\ncompromises somewhere.\u201d So, only until you&#8217;ve done your research and you know\nthe pricing, I would say you&#8217;re in more of a confident position to negotiate.\nAnd then, when it comes to actual negotiating, I would suggest it you send out\nyour target price and what you&#8217;re looking for. And, you base around your target\nprice, you have considerations that you need to factor into. You have your own\nmargins you need to work again. So, you have your own&#8211; depending if you&#8217;re\nselling online or if you&#8217;re selling to an Amazon or an eBay, you do have\ncommissions you need to be factoring. So, you have your own justifications on\nwhat target cost you need. And, basically, you want to talk this through with\nyour factory. Find out in the account manager or the contact you&#8217;re dealing\nwith and set up a call and discuss all this with them. And find out,\n&#8220;Okay, if they are more expensive is why how come they&#8217;re more expensive?\nAre they offering any better quality products or are the materials any better?\nYou need to find out what justifies their cost. And equally, if they are lower\non the scale, find out how they are lower because as you rightfully say,\nthere&#8217;s just a race to the bottom for pricing and they will accept anything.\nSo, if they can cut a corner and source a cheaper component, for example, or\nlower quality materials, then they will definitely do that. So, you just need\nto bear in mind that when you are negotiating is that it can be quite easy to\njust push further and further and further and especially, if you&#8217;re a\nfirst-time buyer, you don&#8217;t want to be dealing with inconsistent product quality.\nYou want to know what you&#8217;re buying and can trust the supplier you&#8217;re working\nwith. So, make this a more of a long-term vision and start off slow, start off\nwith the pricing. And as you build up your volume, then obviously, then you can\nstart to negotiate pricing. Can you negotiate with the supplier if you hit\ncertain volumes by certain periods? Can you get a discount on price? So, I\ndon&#8217;t know if you hit 10,000 units, can you get a better pricing after a\ncertain amount of time? And this type of relationship is a much better approach\nworking with a supplier than just going in at a very, very low cost because\nit&#8217;s not sustainable for the both of you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 18:18:03<br>\nYup, absolutely. It&#8217;s not sustainable. People need to keep that in mind. So,\nyeah. And through a sampling process, you&#8217;ve narrowed down your suppliers\nagain. You might have two or three. Walk me through what you would do to\narrange samples. Should you get exact samples of your exact product made up or\nwould you be happy to receive samples of a similar product? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 18:42:04<br>\nSo, when you&#8217;re first starting, often the samples you&#8217;re going to get aren\u2019t\nprobably the exactly the same that you\u2019re going to actually manufacture. So, I\nwould suggest to maybe select a few different type of products. Ask them to\nsend it to you. And then during this process, you really want to understand,\ntest the product, why do you like it, can you change it? Often when you are\ndealing with factories, you&#8217;re going to want to sort of customise it how you\nwish. So, when you talk with a supplier and explain all of the changes that you\nwant to make. Are you going to source, actually, this specific section of the\nproduct, I want to improve the quality of this or add improvements where\npossible if you would like or change colours, how you can add your branding and\nare you going to change the colours. Talk this through with your supplier and\ngive as much details as you can as possible and what you want to change. And\nthen, I would suggest receiving a second sample, which is based on your changes\nand your requirements, you have your second sample. This is then the sample\nthat you&#8217;re going to want to be sending out to your customers or are you going\nto be using this for marketing material to shoot for your online website? This\nis the opportunity for you to use this product to understand, is this product\ngoing to sell? And then, from that, then you go ahead, are you actually going\nto order with this supplier? Yeah, you&#8217;ll go through that process. And then\nonce you say, for example, you&#8217;ve finalised with your supplier, then you&#8217;re\ngoing to want to make sure that you receive an exact mass production sample.\nNow, usually, we refer to these as golden samples or mass red seal samples\nsometimes. And these are the exact model of what is going to get manufactured.\nSo, this, you&#8217;re going to want to make sure that not only you but your factory\nhas that golden sample. So, you want a sample at your warehouse and at the\nmanufacturers&#8217; warehouse to make sure that on both sides, you can both compare\nwhen you have mass production going through and you&#8217;re placing orders on a\nsix-monthly basis, you always have something to refer back to. You can check,\nyou have your stock in six months time, for example, and you can check against\nthe sample that you&#8217;ve ordered it to. And what we used to do is, typically,\nwhen you place your order, you can do subject to golden sample approval or\nbasically poke a line into the order where you make sure that it is the exact\ncopy of that sample because then you have and basis to go back if the supplier\nhas changed anything you said, &#8220;I&#8217;m only placing the order subject to\nactually being the sample that we\u2019ve approved. This just give you little\nreassurances you&#8217;re buying what you&#8217;ve agreed on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 21:39:12<br>\nYeah. It&#8217;s a very, very important part of the process. The whole business can\nbe based around it and it is quite complex and important to get it right. So,\nany improvements in this process, I&#8217;m sure everybody will appreciate. So, I\nhear that you guys at Sourcing Playground are working hard to make that whole\nsourcing process a hell of a lot easier. Can you tell me a bit about Sourcing\nPlayground and what it does to make this process easier? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 22:11:11<br>\nYeah, of course. So, as I worked in the industry for several years, I realised\nthat one of the hardest things is that what everyone finds is finding that\nperfect supplier is really difficult. It&#8217;s difficult to actually find them\nonline. Typically, they don&#8217;t have very broad visibility online so they&#8217;re not\ngoing to come up first for the search results of searching a product, it&#8217;s\nnever going to happen. They typically aren\u2019t very active on social media so\nit&#8217;s not something that you can even do your research into that. You can go to\ntrade shows, go visiting trade shows around the world. But, especially, if\nyou&#8217;re a first-time buyer, you might not have the investment and it might not\nbe viable if you do invest in a long business trip. So, if you&#8217;re online, how\ncan you find that trusted manufacturer? Sourcing Playground helps to make this\nprocess easier where we have factories and manufacturers that are based all\nover the world. So, these fantastic manufacturing capabilities and come places\nlike the US, in all of Europe, Poland, Portugal and these companies are\nspecialised in what they&#8217;re doing and we want to make sure that we can give by\nis the opportunities of using the best manufacturing talents regardless where\nthey are in the world. So, yeah, if a buyer is looking for, I don&#8217;t know, if\nyou&#8217;re starting your own brand of T-shirts, for example, you need to find a\nfactory. So, you come to our site and you basically post your product and in\nyour product, this is your brief that I mentioned at the beginning and you\nexplain every single product you are looking for. So, you say, I&#8217;m looking for\n500 T-shirts at this target price and these are all my specifications and\nrequirements that I need for this T-shirt. Your products get sent out to all\nthe factories within those product categories and, basically, you start to\nreceive quotes and offers from suppliers that can deliver the products. So, as\nI mentioned is that it&#8217;s very time-consuming going and talk to each individual\nsupplier and going through pricing, going through their offers and what they\ncan offer you. So, we try to make this a lot faster and easier for a buyer. So,\nas you have one brief, this gets sent out to different suppliers and they quote\nyou like for like quotes. So, you can start to build up that initial enquiry\nstages a lot quicker and a lot easier. And then, you can discuss your project\nwith each supplier through our chat systems and you can share files and images\nof what you&#8217;re looking for. They can share the images of the samples that they\ncan send and it basically starts to build up that relationship through our\nsite. And then, once you found a supplier that you want to go ahead and order\nwith you can agree and award that project to that supplier. And then, continue\nthat process and we&#8217;ll help guide you through what happens next. So, we&#8217;ll help\nadvise on the sample stages and offer support and articles and resources around\nthe sourcing process. And basically, the platform is built on users and user\nfeedback so that&#8217;s really important is the trust in the relationship for buyers\nis so, so, so important. A factory and a supplier is one of the key factors in\nproduct development. If you have a fantastic supplier that you can trust, it&#8217;s\ngoing to really iron out a lot of issues down the road for you. So, a lot of\nbuyers are often worried, \u201cOkay, should I go with this supplier and can I trust\nthem? How do I know I can work with them?\u201d So, through our site, all of the\nsupplier\u2019s previous work histories and reviews are visible online. So, you can\nactually see that they&#8217;ve worked with this supplier for ten years and they&#8217;ve\nbeen fantastic or this supplier might not be great for this or you can start to\nunderstand who you&#8217;re working with and build more of a transparent relationship\nwith this supplier as opposed to, at the moment, in industry, it&#8217;s more of like\ntrade secrets on who you&#8217;re working with and people tend not to be as open. So,\nwe try to really encourage people to explain who they&#8217;ve worked with in the\npast and help previous buyers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 26:21:17<br>\nWell, it&#8217;s great to hear because I know that&#8217;s sort of what the industry has\nbeen missing. I mean, it&#8217;s one thing to go online and connect with a supplier\nbut as you mentioned who are they? What rating? Nobody has utilised a rating\nsystem that can give you good insight into their performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 26:39:09<br>\nYeah, exactly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 26:39:09<br>\nThat sounds great. And as you said, to post your products with the actual\ndetails and in detail, that&#8217;s going to cut down the people that you&#8217;re talking\nto and you&#8217;ll be talking to the right people, I assume, and cut that time what\nnearly in half? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 26:59:03<br>\nExactly. So, at the moment, it takes around six months on average to get a\nproduct developed. In the initial stages, buyers on our site to get prices back\nwithin 48 to 72 hours from a range of different suppliers. So, this already\ngives you a better understanding of a) who can supply you? So, the people that\nhave replied to you can supply this exact product that I&#8217;m looking for and this\nis the price and you&#8217;re able then to go and do your research into all the supplier\nprofiles. On-site, each supplier has their own supplier profile which is almost\nlike a mini-website that we provide them. And you can also, we allow them to\nupload all of their certifications and standards that they are all approved by\nso you can actually go in and make sure that they are complying to all the\nlegal requirements for all of their products. And you can start to build up\nyour own and research and gives you a place that you can access suppliers\nbecause often they don&#8217;t even have a website so we help that process and the\nresearch inside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 28:03:18<br>\nWell, that sounds great. As I said, it\u2019s exactly what the industry needs. I\nhaven&#8217;t personally seen any market places improve in this space. So, yeah,\nthat&#8217;s awesome. So, in summary, what are the key tips when sourcing a new\nsupplier? What are the key things that a new buyer must get right to make that\nprocess easier? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 28:26:10<br>\nSo, I would definitely is know your product and do your product market\nresearch. Find out, as I said, the more you know about the product the better\nyou are at a) selling a product and you can be able to go to the place of\nunderstanding what that product is. You\u2019re able to negotiate better and\nunderstand from a manufacturing&#8217;s point of view the process and how it works.\nAnd you&#8217;re also able to work on pricing a lot better. Definitely know your\nproduct is the most important thing. And then, I would also say is invest in\nthe relationship with your suppliers. Don\u2019t see the fact that they&#8217;re on the\nother side of the world so a few emails here and there is okay. Some time talk\nto them, understand who they are and really work with them on creating that\nlong-standing relationship even when you are working with a supplier, spend\ntime on regular intervals, maybe, once every fortnight, once every three weeks,\ntouch base with them, find out, \u201cOkay, what&#8217;s the next step in the process?\u201d\nEven if you have ongoing orders, take your time and talking to them and\nbuilding that personal relationship because if you&#8217;re a good customer they&#8217;re\ngoing to want to work with you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 29:41:17<br>\nYep, absolutely. Alright, well, that&#8217;s great, Heather. Thanks for your time. I\nthink you&#8217;ve given listeners some really good tips when it comes to sourcing\nsuppliers. I know it can be a hard process but it sounds like what you&#8217;re doing\nis really streamlining that. So, I encourage all of our listeners to go onto\nyour website, sourcingplayground.com. Sounds like it&#8217;s going to make their job\na hell of a lot easier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 30:06:10<br>\nI hope so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 30:08:07<br>\nAlright, well, thanks very much for your time, Heather, appreciate it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heather: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 30:11:08<br>\nThanks very much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Heather from Sourcing Playground explains how buyers should correctly source imported goods from online marketplaces such as Alibaba, Made-In-China, Global Sources others.\u00a0 Heather gives key tips on how to correctly give suppliers detailed product information, how to compare supplier&#8217;s quotations and product specifications, overcome language and cultural barriers, understand if you are dealing with a factory or trading company and how to negotiate pricing with suppliers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3104],"tags":[3113,3116,3115],"class_list":["post-359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sourcing-negotiation","tag-for-importers","tag-podcasts","tag-videos"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.0 (Yoast SEO v23.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sourcing products from Alibaba Challanges &amp; 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