5 Reasons Why Sourcing from China and Hong Kong Is Your Best Option

Many small and medium-sized businesses and even some of the leading brands have understood the importance of sourcing products from China and Hong Kong over the last few years. For example, in 2019, about 28% of the global vehicle output had been manufactured in China. Other industries have also turned to China to look for reliable Original Equipment Manufacturers.
If done successfully, importing products from Chinese manufacturers can help you increase your profit margin, lower labor costs, and ensure uninterrupted supply throughout the year. Unfortunately, you can still see a lot of myths and misinformation flying around. Some say that you can’t find high-quality products made in China. The truth, however, is that sourcing from China can be your best option.

1. Expansive Supplier Base
One of the primary reasons why you should import from China is the expansive supplier base in the country. In fact, China boasts of one of the most diverse supplier bases in the world. From textile and apparel to electronics and consumer goods, you can find an extensive range of sourcing companies for making virtually any type of product.
China has different industrial clusters comprising a large number of firms and companies located in a well-defined geographical area. For example, the Yiwu region in Zhejiang province is perhaps the largest small commodities market in the world. So, you can find a reliable sourcing company for making any type of gift articles.
On the other hand, Tongxiang is the manufacturing hub for fabricated kitchenware and home utility products. If you are looking to outsource the OEM manufacturing for kitchen sink or metal tools, this geographical area is where you can find the right supplier.
Similarly, you can find supplier bases for cosmetics in Guangzhou, hardware in Yongkang, and digital and electronics products in Shenzhen. Each cluster comprises various subclusters consisting of different supporting companies.
These subclusters offer services like packaging, raw materials, transport, and quality control, among other things. In other words, you get a one-stop solution for all your OEM needs.

2. Lower Labor Cost
One of the most lauded answers to the commonly asked question “Why is it cheaper to make stuff in China?” is the lower labor cost. Labor cost is an important factor that determines the overall production cost in the manufacturing sector.
China is one of the most populous countries in the world, making it easier to find plenty of both skilled and unskilled labor locally. The abundance of local labor makes it possible for sourcing companies in China to set lower manufacturing costs.
Also, various government policies also allow manufacturers to ensure stellar work standards without having to increase labor costs. Most workers also have years of training or experience in their respective niches. So, as a buyer, you don’t have to invest time and money in training, especially if you are sourcing generic products.
Finding cheap, but skilled labor can also be taken care of by a product sourcing agent. In short, you don’t have to face any difficulties or invest time in looking for suitable labor.

3. Excellent Product Quality
It is a common misconception that Chinese products are not durable. They are often termed as use-and-throw-quality products. However, this is far from the truth. Several small and medium businesses have already found suppliers offering high-quality products made in China.
In fact, most suppliers have years of hands-on manufacturing experience and hence, know the manufacturing process inside out. They also know the best and the cheapest sources to acquire good-quality raw material and may already have the equipment required to maintain a stellar quality standard.
Many leading manufacturers are also willing to invest in suitable equipment and technology. Furthermore, you can rope in a third-party quality control company to ensure the product confers to your quality standards and technical specifications.
Most reputed and experienced manufacturers are aware of this. So, they are more than willing to submit to product quality inspections at various stages of the manufacturing process.

4. Better Scaling Capabilities
As mentioned, the infrastructure in China is well established and robust. Most Chinese manufacturers also have years of experience and in-depth knowledge of global supply chain management. Both these factors allow them to scale-up manufacturing as and when required.
For example, you can increase your sourcing products from a few thousand to more than a million in just a few days or weeks at the most. Of course, the time for scaling up will depend on the type of your product and the availability of raw materials, among other things.
Furthermore, most manufacturers’ policies do not require buyers to invest heavily in Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ). You have to pay considerably lower costs for MOQ, allowing startups and small businesses to start sourcing products in small quantities.
You can, however, scale up as your business grows. If you are a new company looking to establish your brand, there is no better alternative than taking advantage of manufacturing in China.

5. Sourcing
You can easily connect with a reputable supplier or their representative agents in international trade fairs through online marketplaces, by directly visiting various traders’ markets in China, or with the help of an experienced sourcing agent. Make sure to hire a reliable and experienced manager.

Conclusion
In an extremely competitive global market, businesses have to focus on increasing their profit margin without compromising product quality or raising production costs. That’s why a large number of companies across the globe prefer sourcing products from China and Hong Kong.

Brand Project of ValueTourismo – Me Greece branded products

ValueTourismo, apart from its 2 main services of Marketing/Branding and Product Sourcing,  also creates its own collections. Professionally built branded collections of tourism products and souvenirs.

Me Greece is a brand that is already in the market of tourism.

Quality Memories.

“It’s me. A traveler who travels the world collecting beautiful memories. I’m in Greece, a country with rich history, culture and wonderful places. This product, Me, is a Greek, well- designed and quality product with Greek theme. Get it and enjoy it. It is yours!”

Me Greece branded products. In exclusive Greek tourism shops.

 

The personality of your brand

Brand is a customer’s overall perception of your business. In order to get there you follow the brand building process, the ongoing effort to establish long-term relationships with your customers. This can lead to a steady increase in sales, more projects, word-of-mouth referrals, and advocacy for your products or services.

One important element in that process is to let your Brand Personality shine. Customers aren’t looking for another cookie-cutter company who offers the same thing as everyone else. They are looking for an experience tailored to their needs, backed by genuine personal interaction.

 

How to brand your business in a unique way to your audience?  Make your personality stand out in every aspect of your brand building process. And be consistent on that!

The effectiveness of brand personality will increase brand equity by having consistent set of characteristics that a particular consumer segment enjoys. This personality is a qualitative value-add that a brand gains in addition to its functional benefits.

Under this framework a company shapes the way people feel about its product, service, or mission. A company’s brand personality elicits an emotional response in a specific consumer segment, with the intention of inciting positive actions that benefit the brand of the firm

Share to your “people” your brand’s personality!

 

ValueTourismo: What is Sourcing?

What is Sourcing?

Sourcing is the stage that comes before any purchases are made and can be considered a subsection of the procurement department of a sourcing company. Before you can procure materials from your suppliers, you must first find and vet those suppliers. When you have an effective strategic sourcing process in place, you’ll find reliable, affordable, and quality suppliers to supply the goods you need. Good work here makes the procurement process more streamlined and efficient.

Sourcing is about finding the balance between the quality of raw materials and the affordability. The less you can spend on materials, the more profit your business can earn. But, if you are too cheap and buy shoddy materials, your resulting product is of lesser quality. It is important to retain standards of quality because your customers want quality, too! Here, marketing services play a crucial role.

Sourcing is a balancing act. It is the process of requesting quotes for new products, obtaining vendor information and uploading into your procurement software, determining the lead time, pricing, minimum order quantities, and so on. Generally, this is done one time for each supplier, with the exception of updating pricing information. However, because it’s important to have a backup supplier or two in case one is not able to meet your needs for any reason, sourcing departments are always busy. With global sourcing you may find a more expensive supplier may be more reliable and able to deal with larger volumes than your preferred cheaper alternative. Or you may need to identify alternative suppliers due to supply chain risks.

Before sourcing can begin, you must assess your purchasing needs, map out a plan, conduct market research, and identify potential suppliers. After all this is completed, you’ll then evaluate the suppliers, and then choose the most suitable supplier for the need. Then, the process repeats for all other purchasing needs, until suppliers are in place for everything you.

These are all these necessary steps to Sourcing. One step further is to tight all the above with a good Branding strategy that will make the product collection to beat the rivals in the market!

Global travel and tourism industry

Direct and total contribution of travel and tourism to the global economy from 2006 to 2017 (in trillion U.S. dollars)

This statistic shows the direct and total economic impact of travel and tourism on the global economy from 2006 to 2017. The direct economic contribution of travel and tourism amounted to approximately 2.57 trillion U.S. dollars in 2017. A highly valuable industry to the global economy, travel and tourism’s contribution has stedily increased for over a decade. North America makes the largest contribution in this area, closely followed by the European Union and North East Asia. Due to their less developed tourism industries, regions such as North and Sub Saharan Africa make a much smaller impact. However, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), some of the fastest-emerging tourism destinations can be found in Africa, including Namibia, Zambia and Angola. This is perhaps due to the realization of the benefits travel and tourism can provide for a country’s economy, or maybe because of the growing popularity of less-traveled destinations among global tourists. This is not to say travelers are not still visiting well-established tourism destinations in their millions – the number of overseas visitors to the United States, for example, is still increasing each year and is expected to exceed 40 million by 2018. © Statista 2019

Do you know the 5 A’s of tourism?

The tourism industry as a whole survives because of various tourism products and services. Tourism industry is flexible. The products of tourism cannot be easily standardized as they are created for the customers of varied interests and demands. That’s making the marketing strategy of companies very difficult but the tourism products very strong. As the tourism products are mainly the tourists’ experience, they can be stored only in the tourists’ memories. Yet , souvenir products can keep some parts of the memories in them!

Shaping the value offerings for tourism we need to consider -apart from the marketing strategy- the 5 A’s of tourism:

 These are:

  1. Attraction: It includes all those factors which attract a tourist. It could be a place, nature, lakes, beach, monuments etc.
  2. Accessibility: It is how to access or reach to that place of attraction. Ways to reach.
  3. Accomodation: Place to stay or accomodate while travelling for rest or overnight stays.
  4. Amenities: All the other services which we require while travelling for good and comfortable living while travel such as food, drinking water, sanitary, etc.
  5. Activities: It includes activities which a place or attraction holds such as nature walks, history & architecture, boating, views, health, etc.

All the above are major components that are taken into account in setting the branding strategy for the services and products of tourism.