Search Results for: trading companies

Alibaba's business managers are looking for ways to get more money. That's understandable. But I think the way they achieve their objectives is downright shameful and need to be called out. (more…) [Read more...]

Let's say you are looking for a supplier in China to make your innovative product. You know that traditional sourcing agents are not the solution -- they simply don't have the ability to assist you with design reviews, engineering work, certifications, and so on. And you can't justify setting up a company... [Read more...]

After working myself in a Hong Kong trading company a few years ago, and then observing my clients' suppliers, I have noticed a lot of similarities among these companies. I think we can distinguish between three types of trading companies: 1. Good salesmen They are good at getting new clients... but not... [Read more...]

A reader asked me an interesting question: I am really disappointed and fed up from the dishonest way of doing business: changing prices in the last moment, late deliveries and all the other tricks that were mentioned in your blog. In these days I am in china to visit the... [Read more...]

Before you read this post, I have to emphasize that some Chinese trading companies here--including Hong Kong--truly create value for their customers. What I wrote below does not apply to all intermediaries. But I observed it so many times that I believe it is true in 80%+ of cases. (more…) [Read more...]

Some large retailers purchase their goods directly from Asian manufacturers, who in turn buy the components and process them. That's about as "direct" as it can get. It allows buyers to avoid the margins of all kinds of middlemen. According to this view, very large retailers would buy everything directly in... [Read more...]

Software companies are often used to using an agile design approach (often SCRUM) to design and develop software products, and they wonder if they can carry over the approach to when they need to develop a new hardware product to support their business goals, for instance, it may be an... [Read more...]

In some cases, it makes sense for an importer to work with a trading company and to count on them for managing developments and productions properly. Since a trading company is supposed to follow up on production and since all communication goes through them, it is crucial to ensure they are... [Read more...]

Recently I had interesting conversations with a few buyers, who work in Chinese companies, and who need to buy local products that satisfy a high standard. How do they do? Are personal relationships ("guanxi") key? Absolutely not. Here are two examples. 1. A Chinese trading company that arranges manufacturing of... [Read more...]

I mentioned in several articles that trading companies are sometimes the best choice for small importers. And two people asked me to confirm/explain it recently. I think it depends on several factors, such as: Do you have time to follow development & production? Can you spend, say, 10 hours a... [Read more...]