In my previous article, we talked about products made in China. And today, we're going to talk about the people - Suppliers.

Suppliers in China

Some people think it's miserable to communicate with Chinese suppliers not only because of the language barrier but also the different way of doing business and the understanding of business. I will offer you some tips on how to improve this later but first let's know a little about us - our Chinese business people.

China started the reform and opening policy in 1978 which is only 35 years to now. Before 1978, most Chinese were farmers and workers (sounds strange?), there were no businessmen. People including me only had the sense of business in the recent 20 years. Many business owners here in China established their companies with their hard work and courage, they do business well inside our country but when it comes to trading with foreigners, problems arises.

To make your business smoother and easier with our Chinese suppliers, here are some tips:

Confirm all conditions including: price term, delivery time, specification of products, quality of materials and parts.
Get pre-production samples. Sometimes suppliers send you their samples for you to refer to their quality, but that sample is not necessarily the same quality as the product made for you.
When write to them, try to make the sentences short, not too long to avoid their misunderstanding.
Ask them if they have experiences exporting to your country or area. Prefer the experienced supplier.
If you care the quality, do not cut their prices too much. Many suppliers do not know how to say No. They accept your prices and they make lower quality for your products.

Get everything in written form and remind them from time to time during the order process and production. Sometimes, people are not focused on their business, they ignore what they have agreed with you. You need to keep telling them about the details. There are some professional people in some factories but you have many chances working with people who do not do what you ask.

Another topic is also widely discussed when sourcing a supplier: trading companies or factories? Buyers always tend to work with factories directly because they seems to offer better prices because there is no middlemen.