Month: April 2021

Shopify Tutorial

Elksourcing：How to Ensure Quality of Products Sourced from China?

Apr 19, 2021 , by 露露

China has become the most popular sourcing destination now; many western companies are keen to import Chinese products given its low cost and high quality. However, it is a challenging task for business beginners given the demographic and cultural differences, especially because it is difficult to ensure quality of the imported products.

1. Understand the value of your products

When you plan to source products from China, you need to have a full understanding of the products. With the product value in mind, you are allowed to figure out the quotes from suppliers which may help you settle on the market. You have to figure out the raw material, basic process, functions, and even the design.

The most important thing you have to understand is about product quality. You have to know the price range of the product at a certain level of quality. Normally, you will find different prices on the market for similar products because of different quality standards. As such, you have to understand the value of the product.

The full understanding of your products will definitely help you to specify the quality standards in detail in the contract when you cooperate with manufacturers.  

2. Cooperate with a good supplier

Remember to always cooperate with good suppliers when you start souring from China. You can find these suppliers on B2B websites, trade shows, and social media.

How do you know the supplier is good? Firstly, you can do background check online. Secondly, you can arrange a visit to the supplier by yourself, or by a sourcing agent on behalf of you. 

3. Pay attention to quality control 

When it comes to quality control, there is a wide variety of work to do on the list. It covers all aspects from the beginning of the production and the ending of shipment. We divide it into three periods:

Pre-production Inspection

The first comes to the pre-production inspection. At this period, you can check the raw material and components. Generally, manufacturers are inclined to source the cheapest material and components, and they are not aware of the raw material restrictions of your country. You can randomly draw a few samples for lab testing. 

In-process Inspection

Then it should be the in-process inspection. This means the inspection during mass production. During this period, you can check the quality of a few products that are just manufactured, if any problems are spotted, the manufacturer can take immediate actions. You should never check it too early or late given its turnover of the product manufacturing.

Pre-shipment inspection

Literally, pre-shipment inspection means the product inspection prior to the shipping. Pre-shipment inspection is normally carried out once 100% of the order is produced, and at least 80% packed, some clients may even wait until all orders get packed. This is to identify possible faults and errors in the batch orders before you ship the items. This is the last chance for the supplier to rectify an issue.

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Elksourcing：General Procedure of Creating Product Packaging

Apr 19, 2021 , by 露露

A good product packaging will easily attract customer attention, deliver your brand identity, business image, and product value. It will increase your sales and expand the business. However, bad product packaging will undermine your business marketing efforts and discourage customer’s buying decision. That’s why most business startups would likely to spend time designing their product packaging. 

How to create an excellent packaging to grow your business? The following is a general procedure.

1. Think of your brand

The packaging is a great way to let your brand speak. You can create a positive association with your brand by developing customized boxes and packages. It would offer a special experience for the customers to unbox and find their purchased item. You have to think of your brand, business value, your target customers, etc.

All your brand identity elements can be used on your packaging design including your logo, font, size, color, and images. Choose the right colors that easily attract customer’s attention at first glimpse. Normally different colors enjoy different meaning. For instance, white means simplicity and cleanliness, green represents eco-friendliness, wellness, and sustainability. 

2. Understand your customers

When you plan to design your product packaging, you have to understand your target customers, know what they expect from your business. After all, they are the ones who are ready to invest in your business.

Definitely, your product packaging will affect your customers’ experience when receiving your product. If you want to include more elements of your branding, try to make them in line with the customers’ expectations.

3. Know your product size

As a matter of fact, the product size matters the packaging size. It would be totally a failure if the size of your design does not fit your product, be it larger or smaller than the product itself. Try to make it economic with the dimensions, and savvy with your products.

4. Consider packaging material

When it comes to packaging, you have to know what to use to package the products. For any shoppers, they don’t want their beloved items to be housed in a box made of wrong materials. 

The packaging material is used to protect the product from damage during transportation.

5. Don’t ignore the budget

When it comes to the packaging cost, the key items should include cost of materials and production. You can search the Internet or refer to your competitor to get the best packaging material. 

6. Design product packaging

Then it comes to the packaging design part. You have to determine the packaging layers and the type of packaging based on the product attributes. If you are not good at the graphic design, a professional designer will be the best choice for you.

But you must have your own idea before you ask a professional designer to design your packaging. Share it with the designer about your brand identity, and the competitors’ packaging designs. Then, the designer will give you’re their idea about the packaging color, look, and feeling.

7. Have your designs printed

Finally, you have to have your designs printed. As we know there are different parts of the packaging material. And you have to have them printed out separately according to your packaging requirements.  For instance, you have labels, barcodes, and other informative descriptions. You may need to print these key ingredients with different printers.

8. Optimize your product packaging

To optimize your product packaging, you need to get some feedback from your customers or the time trend. For instance, green packaging material has been popular among customers. With the trend, you can use a recycled cardboard, or biodegradable materials given the rising global climate consciousness.

China Sourcing Agent

Elksourcing：Why a Sourcing Agent is Helpful to Your Importing Business?

Apr 19, 2021 , by 露露

China is a very large source of good products at low costs, however, dealing with Chinese manufacturers is extremely tedious. A sourcing agent is an essential part of business operations of importing from China, they would be able to save your time and money. 

1) Easier communication

An excellent sourcing agent is an individual with fluent English speaking and understanding, business evaluation, general technical education, coordination, product design and worldwide perspective. He or she can work impeccably in the interest of the buyer to access suppliers at all times, also enhancing the business relationship with the provider.

2) Superior control

Having a good sourcing agent, the purchaser’s interests are completely enacted in an exceptionally controlled way. Firstly, with a person getting deep into the industries, the buyer has a superior control of the delivery, production, and after-sale service, and he or she ensures all the information he or she gets is valid. More particularly, the sourcing agent can freely or mutually discover supplier’s information without willing to sell one particular product. Hence, the purchaser would probably be able to locate a more appropriate product as he doesn’t get puzzled by the misrepresented or false descriptions from the dealer or producer.

3) Experience in Dealing

Most sourcing agents have been in the business for years and would be able to get the correct products and suppliers, handle any problem that occurs, and predict accurate delivery timeframes. Also, they have a great business relationship and negotiating skill when trading with manufacturers making them get great costs as global product sourcing is more complex than the vast majority think, particularly when various products, suppliers, and shipments are included.

4) Authentic assessment and review

A sourcing agent can give the buyer complete information on official documents, registration details, current photographs and documented reports about the industry including workplaces, warehouses, production lines, laboratory equipment and so on to access the industries’ qualifications, validity, production capacity and professional expertise. But dealers can send any information to the purchaser or even claim they are producers of any product, while the truth of the matter is they might not be high-tech sound or have enough manufacturing capacity.

5) Order checking and tracking

If you want the best service and product, pick a sourcing agent who can run background checks on suppliers and also keep an eye on their performance is the best for you. Casual quality checks and industrial facility visits amid the production stage can assist in ensuring that dealers remain on track too most particularly at the time of the packaging and delivering stages which are fundamental.

The work of the best China sourcing agent is dependably. Their commitment to bringing organizations the correct things before the due date with accuracy and quality is something excellent. Organizations that are dealing with the best sourcing agent in China are absolutely in the best hands for their operations.

How To Import From China

Elksourcing：5 Common Mistakes Made by Importers

Apr 19, 2021 , by 露露

It is good for importers to read about best practices; however, it’s more important to learn the common mistakes made by importers. The followings are the most common mistakes.

1) Looking for the lowest price

If you purchase something below market price, you are taking very high risks. Either quality will not be up to your standard, or you are about to get scammed.

2) Arranging shipment without quality inspection

Once a production batch is on a boat, it’s too late. Verify quality yourself or pay for quality inspection services. You need to do it systematically, at least for the first 5 shipments, after that, you can do random skip-lot quality inspections.

3) Not keeping two weeks cushion for schedule

There will be delays, with a certainty comprised between 30% and 90%. So, plan for it. Bonus: even worse than failing to plan for delays, is pushing the factory to reduce production time.

4) Paying in full while one still needs leverage

Some purchasers get a really good feeling about a supplier and agree to wire 100% of the order amount in advance. Then the manufacturer has no incentive to hurry up or to produce up to the standard. If quality issues are uncovered (and that’s only if they allow for an inspection), the factory might refuse to rework the goods.

5) Hoping an unsatisfactory manufacturer will get better over time

Based on a recent survey, it looks like it is a bad idea to give a second order to a factory that just produced substandard quality. Rather than rolling the dice (when the odds are 90% against you), nurture a backup manufacturer.

China Sourcing Agent

Elksourcing：How to Qualify a Sourcing Agent?

Apr 19, 2021 by 露露

More and more importers realize the benefits of a sourcing agent; however, they do not know how to qualify a good sourcing agent. In my opinion, below 4 points are the most important areas you need to focus on.

1) Communication: Fluent English, High Efficiency

A good sourcing agent must have a strong command over English in both writing and speaking and should be able to communicate with you smoothly by phone and email. Smooth communication is the foundation that helps develop cooperation and seamless workflow.

Ability to communicate fluently and confidently in English also reflects that the agent can be trusted to carry out his tasks efficiently and with ease. On the other hand, if your sourcing agent’s English is weak, it will only cost you time as you will have to communicate your requirements time and again until he understands them correctly.

A good sourcing agent must also be highly efficient and prompt in responding to the emails.  There is a time difference between China and most countries. China is 12-15 hours ahead of the US and is 7-8 hours ahead of Europe.

Usually, your questions will not be answered until the next day. If your sourcing agent never responds to your emails and messages after work or on weekends, they are not a good fit.

2) Understand your requirement

In addition to knowing English, it is also essential for the sourcing agent to be quick in understanding the precise requirements of his clients.

For example, if the product is complicated and you require a little customization with the material or redesigning some parts, the sourcing agent must be able to understand your requirements so that he can convey the same to suppliers.

They can communicate with the factory on behalf of you according to your product ideas. If your sourcing agent can’t understand your real need very clearly, then it will take more time to modify the product back and forth.

3) Professional product knowledge

There are two main types of sourcing agents, and you need to choose an appropriate sourcing agent according to your own needs. One, those who assist in finding a particular kind of product, such as drugs, machinery, etc. and the others are who specialize in finding products of daily use for consumers.

Sourcing agent who specializes in finding suppliers of a specific type of product needs to have a good understanding of the products and relevant professional knowledge as well. Customers who come to procure such products are professionals with sound knowledge of those products. The knowledge and experience of the sourcing agent should at least match his customer so that he can understand client requirements and deliver the same.

The agents who deal in all kinds of products have an extensive network of cooperative factories and suppliers. So, they can find the best suppliers for the products you want in a very short time. If you open a supermarket in your country and need hundreds or even thousands of different categories of products, the procurement management can be challenging. In this case, sourcing agents that specialize in providing all kinds of products can prove to be an asset.

4) Professional import & export experience

Any good sourcing agent must have a good understanding of the legalities and paperwork involved in import & export. This includes the process of import & export, certificate and document requirement, licenses, etc.

The agents should also know about international transportation. They should have an understanding of what kind of products can’t be transported by air or by sea, or what type of compliance certificate is required for air transportation. In addition to this, the sourcing agent should have knowledge of patents to avoid potential inconvenience while importing.

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Elksourcing：Useful Tips for Sourcing from China

Apr 19, 2021 , by 露露

Sourcing products from China provides you with a new marketing edge. After going through the product analysis, finding the right suppliers may require sufficient time and effort. Particularly, when it comes to finding suppliers in China, keep the huge cultural, business and language gap between you and the Chinese suppliers in mind.

Building a constant person-to-person relationship can be termed as the key to victory as far as business relationships are concerned in Chinese culture. Outlined below are some tips to nail the method of sourcing various products from China.

1) Find the Right Supplier

Finding the right supplier is the key to start hunting for the right products. When you begin looking for a supplier, the web is preferably the best platform to look for. There are some great Chinese marketplaces in the world that can come in handy to you. Moreover, when it comes to suppliers, there is a huge number of them in Chinese marketplaces. But, finding quality suppliers is a big deal in China. Furthermore, additional options like global sources can also be used to find reliable suppliers as each individual need to pre-quality to join the platform.

The best thing to do – visit the nearest industry-related trade shows and get in touch with Chinese suppliers in person. This is one of the best ways to get the chance to build a strong relationship with them.

Figure out whether you are dealing with manufacturing or a trading company. This can help you negotiate the best deal for you. Consider asking them directly about their credentials or take a look at their catalog. The manufacturer and the supplier can be the same person if the goods belong to the same niche. For instance, a supplier supplying rubber products sells everything related to rubber. Alternatively, if multiple products of different niches are being sold by one supplier then the chance of that supplier being a trading company is obvious.

2) Bargain and Banter

Culturally, procurement professionals from progressed countries are inexperienced with bargaining through business consultations and sourcing products from China. Certainly, you might open up and click with specific conditions in a lawful agreement. Nevertheless, haggling over costs is not something that is universally followed in those nations.

In Western countries, a seller ordinarily sets up a charge and a customer come forward to buy it at that amount if they are satisfied with it. Contrarily, the consumer simply moves on to a different seller to get the best price.

Therefore, do not simply pick and buy. If you think of solely cherry-picking among various merchants to get the best price that you are happy with, then you are not getting the advantages of bartering a lower cost in exchange for big, long-term orders.

Likewise, this is likely to be displayed in your additional expensive costs while coming back home when you compare it with your competitors; therefore, defeating your attempts to source affordable products from China to enjoy a greater profit margin.

3) Negotiate with Your Supplier

While negotiating or bargaining with the merchant, keep in mind that there are various things to negotiate other than only the cost of the merchandise like payment terms, quality, delivery time, etc.

If you happen to be a powerful negotiator and are likely to push the value below the rate level of the supplier, you can expect to get less quality, cheaper packaging, delay in delivery or some additional problem. Therefore, establishing a long-term relationship is only possible by negotiating the most favorable rate for either of the parties.

Negotiation implies an open-ended method with Chinese merchants and it even comes under the part of their tradition. At the start, you may give a higher rate although, for the next order, you are likely to get discounts by lightly increasing order volume.

Getting a fair amount concerning your initial order can signify as a great start when it comes to negotiation. To obtain the most favorable price and build a long-term connection you need to deal in person. Meet the management or the business owner in a factory or trade show in China. With this approach, way you can effortlessly solve any difficulty easily and additionally create a business relationship by sourcing products from China.

4) Quality Control

Keeping control of the product quality is important while looking forward to product sourcing from China. Make sure you protect yourself from a number of issues by making a contract in the first place. Do not forget to mention all the aspects like material, design, packaging, dimensions, shipment terms and quality in the contract. Assessing the quality of the product throughout the production process can help you maintain the cost. This is because the price can significantly increase if the manufactured products are shipped with faults.

While choosing the suppliers or merchants, you can quickly identify the best producers who are generally producing various countries. This can provide you with an idea of the quality of the products. Make sure to always request samples before you make a deal with the suppliers. Make a contract, as already mentioned, and ask for the pre-production sample to assess the entire production quality.

The method of sourcing goods can be time-consuming if you do not carry it out properly. Furthermore, you might sometimes end up with high-priced and low-quality products that can take all your profit. Therefore, choosing a sourcing agent for sourcing products in China can additionally help you manage the maximum of these problems and provide you with peace of mind.

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Elksourcing：How to Evaluate Your China Suppliers?

Apr 19, 2021 , by 露露

When you source from China, it is vital to work with suitable China suppliers, but it is uneasy to choose from the long list you find online. How do you evaluate them? Make sure you evaluate the current suppliers’ quality level and status periodically driving them to improve quality continuously. However, make sure you balance quality and costs. 

A good procurement process should also ensure a good supply of the materials and inventory management. This is how to do it:

(1) Review the supplier’s internal supply chain status and operation level. This includes logistic issues from the raw material channel to finished product shipment.

(2) Supervise suppliers to ensure they set up a rigorous scientific internal supply chain operation process and strictly implement it.

(3) Establish safety stocks through supplier management inventory and other inventory agreements to avoid material shortages. Inventory quantity should be controlled properly.

The above are ideal for managing current suppliers. When developing, selecting and evaluating new suppliers, more official evaluation is needed.

1. Overall situation of supplier

What is the size and overall strength of the business? Does the management have long-term development goals and specific strategies? How is the overall personnel quality? What about the workers, technicians and management? What about the level of quality management? What is the financial position of the enterprise and commercial reputation in the industry?

Nowadays, personnel quality and attitude of an enterprise are increasingly becoming key factors in supplier evaluation. Without high-quality and sincere service attitude of the relevant personnel (production, quality assurance, research & development, and customer service, etc.), it is difficult for companies to offer high-quality products and services to customers.

2. Production cost evaluation 

A. The cost of raw materials: Buy raw materials directly from the factory to save the purchasing cost.

B. Internal production costs: In the case of quality and accuracy, try to apply low cost production equipment, low cost accessories and components.

C. The management structure is more streamlined.

D. Good logistic conditions and geographical location (help reduce transportation costs).

E. Low margin requirements.

3. Quality level

The quality assurance personnel of your company shall take the lead in evaluation according to ISO and QS standards. Also, you can check the quality of their online production, and samples in their showroom. Basically, by these methods, you will be able to judge quality level of the supplier, is it low, medium, or high? Does the quality level match your needs?

4. Supply chain stability

Is there a stable raw material procurement channel? Is there a sound internal production organization and planning system? Is there good communication and cooperation between the production department, purchasing department and customer service department on production and shipment? Is there a specific production and shipment response plan for an emergency or special case? 

Besides, you should also note the basic principle in selecting supplier: Do not choose a supplier that has a bigger scale than your company except you have no options.

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Elksourcing：Important Factors for Choosing a China Supplier

Apr 19, 2021 , by 露露

When you choose a China supplier for your online business, it is important to remember the following important factors.

1). Affordable price: Price is the most obvious and important factor to take into consideration when looking for new drop shipping suppliers. Since there are various suppliers offer different prices for the same product, it’s important to shop around and see who offers the best deal with the best quality product.

2). High quality: There’s often a conformity between cost and quality: The more expensive the product, the better the quality. But quality is not only when the product meets its function, but also in suitable product package with good protection and required labels. You’d better talk to the supplier to ensure all details about the product before signing any contract.

3). Reliability: If your supplier sends a product in 3 weeks instead of 2 weeks as you announced to your customer, they will blame you, not your supplier. Therefore, don’t hesitate to ask anyone who has experience in drop shipping and used to work with specific dropship suppliers for the best choice. Besides, don’t forget to research information about their earlier performance.

4). Shared culture: A good supplier relationship is built on shared culture goals and attitudes. A direct conversation with your supplier is not only let you know how they likely to work with other business, but also give you a chance to consider whether or not the relationship will work.

5). Sufficient product options: It’s better to choose a China supplier who can provide you with a diversity of products which fall into a category you’re familiar with. They commonly offer a cheaper price with significant customer service than the smaller suppliers. With this advantage, you can charge a higher price than other retailers while still ensure the customer’s satisfaction with your products.

6). Excellent customer support: There will be pop-up problems appear that you need to have a strong customer support team to answer any questions from customers or help solve the problems. Don’t forget to court about extra features like special deal alerts or inventory update.