If you are wondering why a sourcing agent is better than trading company, well there are many reasons, but what it all comes down to is that a sourcing agent will act on your behalf and handle all the outsourcing activities so you don’t have to. Rather than spend all of your time doing these things, the agent can do it for you, saving your business time and money.
Benefits
If you’re going to do business in China, a sourcing agent is a necessity since the quality control methods employed in factories there vary greatly. With a sourcing agent you can be guaranteed of getting quality service you paid, something a trading company cannot ensure. In addition to this, a sourcing agent is going to manage all the paperwork, logistics and communications necessary when dealing with suppliers. As anyone who has engaged in sourcing will tell you, getting a reliable supplier is difficult unless you have a representative to help you out.
Other Ways a Sourcing Agent Can Help
A sourcing agent can be of assistance in other ways such as conducting market research on your behalf, absolutely critical in China as the competition is very tight. As noted earlier, an agent is also tasked with finding a supplier or vendor and is going to help with the price negotiation as well.
A trading company cannot provide these services as well as a sourcing agent can, and in many cases they will actually charge more. In spite of claims to the contrary, they cannot guarantee quality control and won’t be able to supervise the production and use of raw materials quite like a sourcing agent can. The other services that a sourcing agent provides such as customs clearance and pre-shipment inspection also cannot be expected from a trading company at same cost. Given all these facts, it’s easy to see why these agents are very much in demand.
