Buyer-Supplier Dialogue: Price First or Service First?

The advantage of low prices made in China is gradually lost. How will Chinese suppliers seek survival and development? How to formulate an effective promotion strategy? How to make the order profitable, where is the future development direction of export enterprises? Asia Sourcing Ms. Shirley Xu, Head of Purchasing in Mainland China of Link, had a wonderful dialogue with suppliers at the Yiwu Station of "Zhisheng Future Export Forum".

Supplier 1: I would like to know if you are interested in purchasing from a small enterprise, What characteristics do you compare to small and medium-sized enterprises?

Shirley Xu: From my personal experience, I will focus on communication with suppliers and the professional aspects of supplier responses. It is not timely, and the quotation is complete, including the information given, product specifications, product pictures, and some related packaging materials, as well as production time, and some company introductions.

Supplier 1: You have Haven't cooperated with some small suppliers?

Shirley Xu: Yes, yes, relative to us, we must like large-scale suppliers, which can give us more confidence in quality.

Supplier 1 : They give you the impression that the quality is not guaranteed.

Shirley Xu: Because if we go to set the order for him, we will also have a special person in charge of quality control to control it. So , We always pay more attention to communication in the process of cooperation. If this person is good at communication and responds to questions professionally in all aspects, we also have confidence in him.

Supplier 1: Asia Sourcing Link pays more attention to price Or do you pay more attention to design?

Shirley Xu: Because we are in the promotional product industry. Relatively speaking, style and design are also fundamental customer requirements. Generally speaking, the promotional product industry requires a combination of the two, one is price, Because customers have their own budgets, price is more important than design.

Supplier 1: It is a mandatory requirement to become a supplier of Asia Sourcing Link.

Shirley Xu: We do not have a mandatory requirement either. As a buyer, we buy from others. Comparing with other companies, the same place is to seek competitive and guaranteed quality, the delivery time must meet our requirements, and the service is more professional.

Supplier 1: Can you understand it this way? Just Asia Sourcing Link is in When looking for suppliers, for example, taking bags as an example, there are ten suppliers, and twenty suppliers make an offer together, that is, whoever has the best quotation. Whoever has the best quotation will give it to him.

Shirley Xu: We press if there are two If there are ten suppliers, we will first look at their prices, then the quality of their samples, and their services, because some suppliers make samples very quickly, and they will come to us soon In comparison, he has the advantage. We can quickly provide samples to customers, If its sample has an advantage, we will make it the preferred supplier, and then we will visit their factory for further understanding, to examine the strength of their factory, and preferably with payment terms.

Supplier 1: Payment method, many payment methods now require suppliers to have three months' payment method.

Shirley Xu: Our payment method is to do TT, but we don't have such a long time, we will not entrust the supplier to pay for the goods, we will pay with the copy of the order.

Supplier 1: Thank you.

Shirley Xu: You're welcome.

Supplier 2: What channels do you generally search for suppliers?

Shirley Xu: We generally use the platforms of exhibitions, Alibaba and Global Sources.

Supplier 2: What is the ratio of your suppliers in the exhibition to Alibaba or Global Sources?

Shirley Xu: Pretty much the same.

Supplier 2: Mainly where?

Shirley Xu: There are many major exhibitions, because the samples can be seen at the exhibition, and the workmanship can be seen through the samples.

Supplier 2: What are the main exhibitions?

Shirley Xu: Canton Fair, an exhibition in Hong Kong.

Supplier 3: Hello, Miss Xu. I would like to ask, does your company have some hardware requirements for suppliers? Such as the size of some factories and so on.

Shirley Xu: We generally like those that can pass the factory inspection. For example, if you have a well-known brand customer who has done factory inspection on your side, we will give priority to them.

Supplier 3: I would like to ask what brand of factory inspection your company has for production inspection.

Shirley Xu: We have Coca-Cola, we have Avon, P&G.

Supplier 3: What are the business scope of your company? For example, what is the range of suppliers you choose, such as accessories and scarves?

Shirley Xu: All kinds, daily necessities, bags, toys, stationery, electronic products.

Supplier 3: Do you have accessories like this?

Shirley Xu: Yes, we do some cosmetic brands and buy some promotional gifts.

Supplier 4: Our company mainly produces electronic watches. I would like to ask you, what are your main suppliers of electronic products? What does it take to be your scale supplier?

Shirley Xu: There is no hard and fast rule for this, because cooperation is mutual cooperation. As long as you can provide competitive prices, good quality, customer satisfaction, and cooperate well with us, you can become a our suppliers.

Supplier 4: Does the company have any demand for promotional items such as our watches?

Shirley Xu: Yes, we make watches, stone clocks, USB flash drives, and mouse pads. And some other electronic products.

Supplier 4: Simply speaking of watches, we mainly purchase watches whether we use watches or our waterproof ones. Is there any focus?

Shirley Xu: There are all kinds of watches, because they come according to the different requirements of customers, because customers have different budgets, some customers require a higher budget as a gift for purchasing, and some customers think that the general quality is good. Yes, we can purchase the corresponding products according to the customers.

Supplier 4: If we have this kind of buyer who looks at our products and needs to inspect the factory, what aspects of our factory should our buyers pay more attention to during these processes?

Shirley Xu: Factory equipment, that is, a factory is a hardware facility, and a corporate social responsibility of your factory. Compared with some of the benefits you provide to your employees, do you provide social insurance for your employees, and do you often work overtime overtime?

Supplier 4: Thank you.

Supplier 5: I would like to know how your company has developed, from small to large, or your company's history, how long it has taken to develop to the present size, and what channels are generally used to establish relationships with international brands. more interested in these.

Shirley Xu: This should be answered by our boss. Our company has a history of 25 years, and he has been in the industry of promotional products. Foreign customers are developed by our foreign sales, so including our boss will contact customers directly. I can't tell you the long historical development process. I can only tell you a few things first.

Supplier 6: I have two questions. One is that your big company should make data reports every year. For example, in 2013, you mainly made those product categories, such as furniture, accessories, or LED lights. When you purchase these products, which one has a larger proportion?

Shirley Xu: As far as our company is concerned, our company has two main advantages in the daily necessities industry and the luggage industry, that is, the purchase amount is relatively large.

Supplier 6: Another point, we are a foreign trade company, and our business is not good. But we also want to buy from a big company like you. After that, if you don’t have factories at all times, will you consider us a trading company that is more sincere and has very good people? Shirley Xu: Yes, we are doing it with some foreign trade companies. Compared with some factories that have just started, the foreign trade companies are more professional in their services, such as providing documents, which has a higher accuracy rate. Some small factories, for example, if you have some problems, then he will think some small problems, anyway, these small problems are no big deal, and they will not take it seriously. For example, some foreign trade companies are more responsible and say: "This is my problem, and I will definitely help you solve it." In this way, we can cooperate with them with confidence.

Supplier 6: Teacher, I'll give you a business card later.

Supplier 7: How do you control the quality of things purchased in bulk. If there is a mistake in the inspection of the things you purchased, what is the difference between what you want to purchase and what he provides in the hands of the customer?

Shirley Xu: No, we need to provide samples before placing an order. We will make sure that your product is what we want, and then we will place the order. We will be customers on the product. LOGO, when we place an order, we will start mass production after waiting for the confirmation of the customer before mass production.

Supplier 7: Some products cannot be fully inspected, for example, all container items cannot be inspected.

Shirley Xu: We will also have a sampling ratio, there is a standard, there is a set standard, such as how much you have, and how much he will select.

Supplier 7: Are they all dispatched by the company?

Shirley Xu: According to the customer's request, our company's QC will inspect the goods first, and then ask a third-party agency to inspect the goods if there is no problem.

Supplier 8: I would like to ask, will your company give reasonable profits to suppliers?

Shirley Xu: It depends on how much profit you want to make. If your price is high, we can't win orders from customers.

Supplier 8: How much profit are you willing to give the supplier? There is no reasonable or unreasonable. The cost of each factory is different, but the main teachers in the front said: Now customers are not built on low Based on price, I heard very contradictory, in fact he is not like this, until now, we are still relying on price to compete here, so I feel very puzzled, I want to ask: "How much profit is your company willing to give suppliers? "thanks.

Shirley Xu: Our approach is like this. When we sell to foreign customers, he will quote a price to the foreign customer, and the foreign customer will give feedback: What price can I afford, even if you quote very low , If the customer is not interested in your products, there may not be an order, and then you say that we are profitable, because each industry has a profit level for each industry, and I don’t know how much your jewelry profit is. In the end, we are based on customer goals. Price, because customers purchase each product will have their own budget. If the customer's own budget is not fixed, it can be adjusted in time. We will not pressurize the price of your suppliers. We can do what we can do. After all, it depends on whether you are a supplier that is more competitive in the market. s price.

Supplier 8: Thank you.

Supplier 9: I would like to ask a question, as a relatively large company, which sales staff do you have overseas, who have procurement. Generally, the information passed to you by foreign salespersons is more specific? For example: just a LOGO lets you choose what kind of product, or it is very detailed. I want to know something like this.

Shirley Xu: We usually have two main situations. The first is that the meeting provides more detailed information. For example, if he says what product he wants, he will give you the product picture. Or tell you a pen, what style, and the pictures he will provide, because the promotional items and products are more popular, so he will not provide all sizes, but regular items, so when the factory sees this pen Just know what size the picture is, and some customers will ask you to develop and design it. He will tell you a concept, and then he will tell you a target price. I am going to buy something within the target price. Can you recommend me products within this target price? We will recommend him several products from different industries. , such as our daily necessities recommendation. My bags will also be recommended, and our toy products will be recommended to him. The customer has to make a final selection based on the products he wants to promote and the price range he can afford.

Supplier 10: Miss Xu, I know you are next door to several suppliers in Yiwu, would you like to share with us. What advice do you have for this batch of suppliers in Yiwu?

Shirley Xu: Previously, the Yiwu factory gave the impression that there was no guarantee of quality. We contacted Yiwu before, but it seemed that the quotation information was not very complete. We sent an inquiry, and we had to call to urge it, but after urging it several times, there was no answer. Some just write a very simple price, he will not give us a very detailed quotation. If I only see a price, and I am very busy, I will definitely not contact him on the phone and say: What is the price of your product? "I have other suppliers who gave me a more comprehensive quotation. Our company's QA personnel went to the factory to inspect the factory and saw the on-site situation of the factory, that is, the size of their factory, just like a family workshop. People have no confidence in quality, so the factory environment should be better. In terms of customer service, we can provide fast and comprehensive information. The most important thing is the quality of products, because the quality and price of products in Yiwu are relatively high. The advantage and the relative disadvantage may be the quality. If the quality can be better, I think there will be many opportunities to get orders.