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.
