2023 Ultimate Complete China Sourcing Guide

Over the past years, China has been recognized as the world's biggest manufacturing country, which has been top-ranked with its exporting volume covering almost all categories from fashion accessories to hardware tools. sourcing items from China is always the first choice for global buyers, thanks to the variety of goods, high quality, and cheap price. But how to start a successful sourcing business with the least risks from 0 to 1, is still a big challenge for new importers. So here is a well-prepared China sourcing guide that will help you in the whole process of your sourcing in China.

I hope this article will be helpful and assist you in your whole process of sourcing business. I’m sure you will have a deeper understanding of how to source products in China, once you have finished reading the whole article. With this article, you will learn how to choose the right suppliers to support your business increasing.  Now just let’s start with your successful business in China.

Spend time looking for suppliers 

If you are sourcing in China for the first time, you can search for suppliers on Google or Bing for quick research. besides, there are also many B TO B wholesale platforms online in China, such as Alibaba, Global Sources, and Made in China, where you can find a lot of settled-in suppliers.
But here it comes with a problem, it may be difficult to tell who is a manufacturer on these platforms, as there are also many resellers but not manufacturers on the platforms,  in some cases a reseller is also an ideal choice for you, if you are looking for sourcing toys or cheap electronics, however when you need to import products that meet certain technical requirements such as metal stamping, and plastic injection molding, die casts., in this case, you’d better get in touch directly with manufacturers, which is also a cheap way to source from them.

Online B TO B platforms like Alibaba, Global Sourcing, etc, have also the function of supplier rating, for example, Alibaba gives its settled-in suppliers a “gold” rating, as the supplier’s trustworthiness is shown on the platform.

But anyway just keep in mind that the rating of suppliers is not always reliable as suppliers can buy premium membership from Alibaba, and once paid the membership fee. They will also be given a gold supplier rating. so you can’t always trust it.

So you may need to take time to search and conduct additional checks to ensure you have found a good supplier.

Supplier Verification Checks

After you have shortlisted your suppliers, then it comes to the process of verification of their credentials, some of the information you can also find online, the following is what you need to evaluate:

1. Whether they are a factory and not a middleman

2. Whether they have the production capability to deliver the goods and have their technical team to support the product research and development.

Here are some of the tips you can try, first you can ask the factory for its audited account, check its value-added tax invoice, and ask them to provide samples. Furthermore, you can also ask for their registration number and business license number.

If your suppliers fail to give you a business license or a company registration number. So you have to be aware that they are not serious reliable supplier with whom you can do business

If they provide you with their business license, you can verify their information by asking the local administrative government.

Then DON’T FORGET to ask for references from their previous clients to verify their history and reliability as the voice from other clients is always a good testimony that you can refer to.

Find out the balance between quality and price

As the Chinese old saying “ cheap price doesn’t mean high-quality goods.” if you are a serious businessman, you can not just focus on the cheaper price. And you need to know quality is directly related to price. Let’s just take global big brands such as Apple. Samsung is an example. Apple is a global top-ranked electronic brand, that offers very expensive prices, an iPhone usually costs triple as much as similar functioned mobile phones in other brands. But one thing that we can never deny is that the iPhone does offer you an upper-level quality experience in comparison with other brands, this proves that a good quality product is not always cheap.

So firstly you need to have a general overview of the average price of your interesting products. If your potential suppliers offer you a price far lower than the average price range. Then you have to be aware that the suppliers must have used low-quality raw materials, the final quality probably can’t be guaranteed. Always keep in mind the supplier who is offering you a very low price is more likely to compromise on the quality of products. Suppliers will take fees in labor force, equipment operation, and raw material into their production cost.

Double-check the suppliers’ production limitation

Each supplier has its own production limitations and specifications to follow.

So what you need to do is to check with your supplier if their production capability can fulfill your requirement, before you start the production process with them.

For example, the different suppliers will have different minimum order quantity requirements. So it will occur the situation that your supplier may not accept your order quantity. therefore check the production capacity before going ahead with your suppliers

Keep in mind also to find the supplier offering the best price at good quality as the price can come along with maximum.

Effective Communication with your suppliers

Remember that effective communication with your suppliers is the key to success in your sourcing business.  Many failures of sourcing come from the lack of clear communication due to the language barrier and cultural differences.

So if necessary, you’d better hire a translator to help you in communication with suppliers, as it can avoid most of the issues in dealing with suppliers that come from miscommunication and misunderstandings.

Another thing important to keep in mind, all important technical details such as product specifications, technical requirements, and packaging guidelines must be written into official paperwork in both languages.

Conduct Quality Inspection

During the whole process of production.  you need to arrange a regular quality inspection to ensure the goods are made in the correct way as you asked, and the quality is assured.

Doing the inline quality inspection will effectively avoid the quality issues being left to the last minutes before shipping, in this way you can remediate issues immediately, to eventually prevent damage caused by final quality.

Make Sure to ask for samples

Sample is very important, which is a testimony of bulk order quality, case you may have various quotes from different suppliers, so just don’t forget to ask sample for the one you choose. before you commit to the supplier in bulk order. When you see the sample from your supplier. you will have a basic understanding of how the final product looks and will be quiet on the final product, even if there will be any questions in the bulk order, such as the unconformity of the final product with the sample. Then you will be in the right position to discuss with your suppliers.

When you receive your first sample order, you need to inspect around five or ten units to ensure each product is made to the same quality level. And also look out for any defects or poor quality.
If you are not satisfied with the first samples. Just ask them for your second sample with the necessary changes made.

Build a professional relationship with your supplier

You may order online or go to China physically to visit your supplier, so apart from business between both parts. You should also build a professional relationship with them.

You can add your supplier's WeChat contact, in China WeChat is the most used in-time communication application just like WhatsApp in your country. by using what you can easily communicate with your supplier.

The benefits of having an ongoing positive relationship with your suppliers are that you may have discounts and  better deals from suppliers

Final Words

By now you may have already a better overview of how to do sourcing in China, but sourcing is anyway a complex process referring to a lot of stages and issues ., if you don’t want to spend plenty of time before starting your sourcing,  Bestsuppliers as a professional sourcing company working together with quite a lot of manufacturers in China, we will also be willing to provide you with our one-stop sourcing service to drive your business into a huge success.