Once a product prototype is established, it’s time to start gathering materials and identifying manufacturing partners. This is about building a supply chain, creating a product, and integrating the suppliers, activities, and resources you need. Project management is critical during the product development phase. While this phase primarily involves finding a manufacturer or supplier, storage, transportation, and warehousing can also be incorporated.
Find multiple suppliers for different materials and potential manufacturers. If a supplier or manufacturer fails, you have a backup option. During product development, each finished product is manufactured differently. When it comes to finding suppliers, there are a ton of resources both online and offline, but many businesses choose to attend trade shows specifically for sourcing.
Such trade shows provide sellers with an opportunity to meet hundreds of suppliers at once, making it easier to build relationships with them. Finding suppliers on Alibaba is one way. Alibaba is a popular sourcing platform for product production. Alibaba is a marketplace for Chinese suppliers and factories where sellers can browse listings for finished goods or raw materials. An easy way to find manufacturers through Alibaba is to look for similar products and then contact the factory to see if they can customize the product.