Supplier Identification, Sourcing & Selection
How to find good and reliable suppliers that can deliver what you need? Our supplier sourcing solutions can help. In China, you can source from literally millions of suppliers for an enormous range of goods. You can find the highest quality manufacturers in China, but also dozens of small workshops or trading companies. Many companies make or sell goods that don’t comply with Western quality standards. There are numerous different manufacturers for so many different types of buyers worldwide. Finding a supplier that meets your standards at your target price can be challenging.
A reliable supplier for long-term cooperation can be a real asset for your company. Therefore, use our methods and experience to find the best supplier so that you can start purchasing with ease.
What problems do our supplier sourcing solutions deal with?
It’s relatively easy to find suppliers online on websites like Alibaba. However, companies often cover up their online presence and look better on their websites than they are. Finding the proper manufacturer and figuring out who they really are gives your company an advantage in its procurement. We analyse suppliers’ capacities, strengths and weaknesses. We help you find and select suppliers that are the most suitable match for your company’s needs.
How do we source for suppliers?
We take conduct our research following several steps:
Step 1: Formulate what you need from your supplier
It is critical for us to know what you expect from them before we start finding suppliers for you. What specifications and functions do you need from your product? It helps us to know what you want. It makes it possible to make a professional first impression during our first outreach to potential suppliers, so we get the most information from the suppliers right then.
We will make a specification sheet to make the comparisons between suppliers as equal as possible. We will ensure that we only share information that can be shared freely with suppliers and be very careful about sharing confidential information.
Once we understand your needs, we will start researching suppliers to find the best ones for you.
Step 2: Explore the market and contact potential suppliers
We will first conduct comprehensive market research. What are the locations of the producers of these goods? Are these goods usually produced in small workshops or large factories? Are there many factories selling these goods, or do most factories sell via trading companies? This information lets us compare your needs with market reality and contact potential suppliers.
We will contact potential suppliers by phone to get information about who they are. By calling, we gain more direct knowledge than contacting them online. We gather more information about the company to judge if they are a manufacturer that is suitable to cooperate with. If the supplier is a potential match, we will select them for further research and comparison.
We obtain quotes from different factories based on the specification requirements, which we can compare during selection. Information is collected about every supplier online, we check each company’s government database and research the company’s business scope, location, size and historical activity. We will use this information to compare all potential suppliers during our selection process.
Step 3: Select, rank and advise
When we receive quotations and gather all background information, we analyse them and select 4 or 5 suppliers for extensive coverage. We compare and rank these suppliers based on several factors:
Production abilities and quotations:
The ability to produce products according to your specifications, functions, and other requirements that the buyer has for the products is our first selection criteria. Depending on your priorities, we can also select based on MOQ, expected delivery time, sample costs, mould costs, product options, customisation options, packaging options, etcetera.
We will determine the average market price and select manufacturers within your target price. If you don’t have a target price yet, we will select companies that quote a price that doesn’t deviate too much from the market average. Since quality is strongly related to price in China, we wouldn’t recommend always choosing the lowest price. The chance is high that quality is sacrificed if the price is too low.
Communication and behaviour:
Communication on the phone and in texting with the supplier during the process says much about the company. When the information provided is vague and inconsistent, this is clearly a red flag. If the communication from the beginning is clear and compelling and the salesperson knows how to ask the right questions, the company will likely be more professional. Therefore, the level of professionalism, honesty and transparency is one of our selection criteria. We also select based on the (quotation) documents provided. Some companies provide more detailed, transparency, and comprehensive information than others. These companies are more likely to be transparent and professional in their communication and cooperation in general.
Supplier characteristics:
We finally look at each supplier’s characteristics to analyse how suitable they likely are and how likely they are to offer you opportunities:
- Company location: Where in China is the factory located? Is it located in a specialised industrial zone or a less developed area? What kind of address is it registered at? We analyse if the factory has location advantages, which makes it more likely to produce high quality for a reasonable price.
- The company size: We estimate the factory size. The bigger the factory size, the more they can use scale advantages and the better quality management and order planning generally are. On the other hand, bigger factories can be picky about which clients to work with, and small buyers often get lesser treatment. Depending on the expected order size and buying power, we can find a factory size that best suits your demands.
- Business scope: Based on the company’s business scope, we can discover the manufacturer’s expertise in producing your desired product. The more specialised they are in a product, the better quality they will likely deliver.
- Reputation of the company: We analyse how many years the company has existed and whether its management has experience with the products and materials they work with. We will also investigate if the company has had any penalties or warnings in the past, which may raise red flags.
- Strategic alignment with your requirements: We evaluate supplier alignment with your values and requirements. We focus on key criteria like compliance with your home market, ability to meet your standards for ethics and sustainability and focus on innovation and product development. We also assess buyer-supplier power and bargaining leverage. The exact characteristics and criteria we use to evaluate supplier alignment and suitability are customised based on your unique business needs and manufacturing requirements.
Based on all these selection criteria, we help you identify what supplier works best for your company’s interests. We will write an extensive report to provide you with our advice to help you select the best manufacturers for you.
The supplier sourcing report:
We will produce a report that summarises all the information we gathered during our supplier sourcing research. The report provides market analysis. Based on all our selection criteria, we rank factories according to suitability. The report provides guidance based on all indicators that provide information on production possibilities, production advantages and potential risks we see for each manufacturer. Finally, we advise which risks and benefits we see and which factories suit best based on our experience and analysis.
Benefits of doing your supplier sourcing with us:
- Save time and money by getting a strong selection of suitable manufacturers
- You get the manufacturers that suit your individual goals and needs
- You understand the market and what kind of Chinese manufacturers you are dealing with
- Minimise your risks by sourcing a selection of manufacturers that have been thoroughly investigated
Contact us today, to discuss how our expertise and experience can help you with your supplier sourcing challenges in China.
