There are constant misunderstandings between some importers and their suppliers. The reason is that most purchasers are not familiar with the way Chinese manufacturers think. And they are incapable of placing themselves in their supplier’s shoes.

Jacob Yount just wrote an excellent explanation of these misunderstandings in Logic & Common Sense in China Manufacturing.

Here is the way it plays out in three difference situations:

Asking for photos of products:

Buyers approach factories or vendors and ask to see examples of “item x”. The supplier provides reference imagery. It may not be the exact same item, but this is where it’s going to take thinking on your part….

As soon as the buyer receives a reference photo from the factory, they immediately burst out “this is not what I was asking for”. The factory then thinks “duh”. The factory, contrary to much belief are not morons. They know they just showed you a different item. What they are displaying is “capability”.

Factories main thing is production, period. Not marketing, not sales, not customer service, but production.

Quotations

If a factory quotes you an item…say a bag and the price is out of your budget, then it’s possible apples to apples are not being compared. Instead of just throwing out an empty “price is too high“, as time allows, work with the vendor to see what needs to be done in order to hit your price points.

Realize the first price is an initial estimate. Don’t put too much stock in vendors quoting exact the first time (this can be true even if you’re not developing an item). The vendor can put 100% effort in to the quote and it still be off; but chances are, if you are a new buyer to them, they may put very little effort in to the process.

Pre-production development of samples:

If order closure is based on a perfect sample, make provision for more than just 1 run of samples. Sampling to a factory means, “giving it a go a few times until we get it right.” This especially makes sense if it’s the first time the factory has manufactured this item. Also keep in mind that factories are notoriously bad for keeping records and cataloging past work. Many factories, especially in the low-cost good world, don’t build on past orders and precedence but work and think job to job.

What do you think? Any other example of source of misunderstanding?