- Find the biggest exporter country around the worldwide, lock the target importing country.
For example, if you are an outdoor gear and Portable Lighting wholesaler, the first step should be referred to below:
1). Find out the product HS code, usually the first 4 digits of the HS code are same on world-wide. For example for portable lighting, we find the HS code as:
85:
Name: Electrical, electronic equipment
Description: Electrical my equip parts thereof; sound recorder etc
8513:
Name: Portable battery, magnetoelectric lamps
Description: Portable electric lamps designed to function by their own source of energy (for example, dry batteries, accumulators, magnetos), other than lighting equipment of heading No. 85.12.
2). Use above HS code, find the top exporters worldwide.
For example as Portable Lighting, the top exporters are:
From above we find The top exporters of Portable battery and magneto-electric lamps are:
- China – 82% ($2.61B)
- Germany – 2.7% ($86.7M)
- United States – 2.4% ($76.4M)
- France – 1.3%($42.6M)
- HK – 1.0%($33M)
So the main Portable Lighting supplier we should find from China.
- Find out the industry chain on your target importing country, lock the target importing city.
We’ve decided the target importing country is china from step 1, but which city in China? What’s the detail industry chain about Portable Lighting in China?
To solve the above problems, we should consider the main search engine in China, www.baidu.com, of course, the product name input should be Chinese, result as:
Yes, the top 1 of the portable lighting industry chain in Guangdong province, China.
So our target of importing city should be Guangdong province, China.
- Find all companies who can offer your products to send inquiries.
How to find all the related factory or manufacturer for your product?
Of course, you know Alibaba.com collect almost 60% supplier in China, and also you can compare from other b2b platforms like made-in-china.com, globalsource.com.
Just input your product name and choose the company button, picture as:
But now many wholesale customer feedback they met so many cheaters on Alibaba.com, and actually In China, there are also many factories don’t willing to promote their factory and product on Alibaba.com, because the Alibaba market provides Vicious competition, many cheaters
defrauding customers through low prices, it makes the market trust decline. So in recently 3 years, many suppliers choose the independent website, so if you want to miss professional or quality supplier, try more by google search.
- Comparing Identify whether the target company is a factory or a trader.
After you got the target company list, the next step is to identify whether they are a factory or a trader, there have some tips for your reference:
1). Directly ask
Yes, you can ask directly but unless you plan to visit China soon, the supplier will tell you anything with no risk of discovery If they are a real factory.
2). Check The Supplier’s Registered Capital
Other articles suggest you examine the supplier’s registered capital, checking for a figure exceeding CNY 500,000 as an indication of the value of the plant & equipment, telling you the business is a factory. However, this is not accurate. A small specialty firm may have low registered capital, while a larger trading firm may show a high figure. A detailed explanation is described in the first paragraph of this post by Jing Sourcing.
3). Request a Sample.
Any company in China can locate and ship a sample to you, so we do not suggest you rely on this method.
4). Check the Supplier’s Business License
Every legitimate company in China will have a business license. Ask for a photograph of the license (readable), then use Google Translate and check for the specific business scope which should read “manufacturer”. If the company will not provide the license, be very suspicious. Reading the business license is explained in detail in this post by China Checkup.
The license will tell you if the supplier is a manufacturer, but not, whether they can and do produce your parts. In our business, we have seen factories report to have capabilities well beyond the products they actually produce. They simply outsource to another firm. Is this wrong? Well… it depends. The practice is very common in China
5). Ask a Technical Question
Ask an appropriate technical question about your product (what are the closest machining limits you can hold? What type of equipment do you use to measure this feature?). If your contact does not reply within a few hours, chances are high they are not the actual manufacturer.
6). Arrange a Skype call with the engineers at the factory to review your product requirements.
If you do not speak Chinese, log on to elance.com or LinkedIn to find an independent translator to be on the call with you.
During the call, ask questions about the production process, testing, or their capabilities or specific equipment that will reveal the supplier’s level of knowledge on the process and equipment. You can even ask your Chinese contact to walk around the plant and film similar parts during production. They may complain, but if they want your business, they will do it.
- Further screening of selected target companies, such as requesting qualifications, certifications,
- Negotiate and develop a procurement plan, execute a site visit plan.
Seeing is believing, the final step is just to map your target company, and take them to visit one by one.
If you are a distributor, wholesaler or retailer of outdoor portable lighting products, life-lighting is your best choice to improve the defects and develop your own brand, life-lighting focus on RD and Manufacture of energy storage application products(Portable power station, multi-functional camping lantern, LED working Light, outdoor generator and portable lighting) from the year 2008, 70% of customer from Japan currently, now life-lighting on-going to develop European and American markets, welcome to consulting cooperation.