I was discussing with a friend of mine, who works as a purchaser for a French company. Her employer imports electrical products and sells them to supermarkets and specialized chains. Their salespeople regularly see nice new products on the market, and ask my friend to “find a factory that already manufactures this, because it’s certainly made in China”.
For 90% of the products on its catalogue, her company works this way: they notice a new product on their market, they find it on a online trade directory such as Alibaba or Global Sources, they try to negotiate a low price (and never accept to pay for a new mould), and stamp their own logo on the goodie.
My friend is regularly frustrated, though. Her boss does not understand why certain products can’t be sourced at all. Many queries on Alibaba do not bring any result up.
How is it possible?
First, all electrical products are not made in China. How about Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia? How about Germany or the US?
Second, some Chinese manufacturers do take intellectual property seriously. Many of them have signed NDAs that are enforceable in China, or they simply don’t want to lose a large customer.
For example, one time she had to find a type of DVD player with a brand-new function. Only Philips was offering it on the market. There was no way she could find it…
Would you expect Foxconn to sell 10,000 pcs of Iphone to you, simply because they already manufacture them for Apple? They would stand to lose much more than they would gain from your small order.
Third, many manufacturers don’t want to be caught by a customer selling their IP to another customer. So the last thing they would do is put a photo of the new products on the internet.
This does not mean that the new designs are hidden, though. They are often displayed prominently in the factory’s showroom, or their salespeople will tell you about it during a meeting. If you are already in contact with the supplier and you learn about their latest project, they will be glad to work on something close for you. Not similar, just close. After all, they already know how to make this technology…