For cross-border e-commerce enterprises that integrate industry and trade, suppliers provide raw materials or semi-finished products, and there are many factors to consider, which are limited by the length of this article. For pure traders or brand owners, suppliers provide finished products or customized production services.
It is necessary to comprehensively select suitable suppliers based on the supply chain evaluation factors given in the next section. There are many ways to find suppliers, which are generally divided into online and offline. Online resources are mainly found on some B2B platforms, such as the domestic 1688 website, which is one of the largest B2B websites in China with a full range of categories. Sellers can search for factories through keywords. It should be noted that in addition to professional factories, the website also has some traders who sell spot goods.
During the search process, distinguish according to your product needs. In addition to large B2B websites, there are also some vertically segmented procurement websites, such as the platform “Gongbangbang” focusing on industrial product transactions, and China Shoe Network focusing on shoes, which are also ways for sellers to find suppliers. In the process of communicating with suppliers, if the selected product is a spot payment that does not require design modification, it is necessary to communicate information such as product packaging, product procurement cost, product inventory, whether it can be shipped in one piece, logistics freight, etc. It is recommended to purchase samples in advance for quality testing to determine whether this supplier is a suitable supplier. If the selected product is a product that requires micro-innovation, then it is necessary to find a manufacturer-type supplier, which needs to have the ability to develop products, first make product proofs, and test the samples. After the samples are confirmed to be correct, it is recommended to visit the local factory to understand the actual scale of the factory, and have face-to-face discussions with the manufacturer to determine the quality, packaging, procurement price, production time, logistics costs and other specific information of the bulk goods. The entire transaction cycle will be much longer than the spot payment. If you can’t find a suitable supplier on the website, the seller can consider looking for it in the offline market. For example, Yiwu Trade City, or areas with concentrated industrial belts, such as the Yangtze River Delta region: clothing, kitchen life, fitness equipment, home textiles and other products have advantages: Shandong region: furniture, auto parts, wigs, etc. have advantages. For junior sellers, if there are large-scale industrial belts in the area, or a large wholesale market, you can consider looking for ready-made suppliers directly from the market. If you don’t have a supply advantage, consider looking for suppliers online.