The Chinese market offers great business opportunities thanks to its production capacity and know-how in a wide range of products and at competitive prices. However, every year thousands of entrepreneurs hesitate to buy in China because they are afraid that the experience will be a failure. They are right to be concerned if they think that finding a provider online, contacting and exchanging emails to confirm prices is enough. There are three basic stages to ensure the quality of imported products and their transport. Randall Castillo Ortega, an entrepreneur and an experienced importer/exporter in Central America, explains the stages and how to improve overall quality control.
Always select a trusted provider. There are several ways to find Chinese suppliers. The most common is to work with sourcing professionals, attend fairs such as HKTDC or Global Sources in Hong Kong, or consult databases such as Alibaba.com. After this process, it is essential to request data about the supplier (or intermediary): references, copies of certificates, perform verifications of the production process, machinery, etc. according to the international standard ISO 9001.
“It is highly recommended to check the factory by visiting it and consulting free tools online,” explains Castillo. “In addition, it is important to rely on experts: quality control companies that have teams of local auditors with extensive experience in the manufacturing sector and are trained to verify the reliability of a supplier and ensure the quality of imported products.”
Check merchandise in China before shipment. Even with a reliable supplier, many factors can affect the quality of products. Dispatching the goods without prior control would be risky since there would be no guarantee that the quality is as expected; in addition, the economic consequences of this risk are usually quite high. Quality control companies have professional inspectors to monitor the quantity, visual appearance, packaging and packaging, as well as the conformity of the product with respect to its specifications. They also perform tests to ensure proper functioning, soundness and compliance with the standards and regulations of the destination country in order to ensure the quality of imported products. Castillo adds that only inspection companies with AQSIQ certification can guarantee reliable service!.
Ensure the shipment of the goods to their final destination. After verifying and assuming the quality of the goods, comes the third step: ensuring the transport of imported products to their final destination. Buyers need to consider different services and many of these are covered by logistics experts. They ensure that the merchandise is shipped on time and at the best cost. By letting experts solve and take care of the global logistics; customs administration, customs bonds, global transportation (pick-up and delivery), cargo insurance and more, buyers save time to focus on their core business.
All those who are dedicated to the import and/or export of goods will know the difficulties involved in the whole process. To manage the import of certain products, it is necessary to have a great deal of experience, knowledge of the sector, licenses and knowledge of the market. And they must never forget the importance of good quality control of the goods, both at origin and destination.
Nowadays, the quality control, labeling and ingredients of the products is essential to do it at source to avoid problems when it comes to dispatching them, as well as making the market. In this way, we can offer our customers a maximum quality of service, regardless of where the product comes from and where it has been manufactured. States Castillo, “It’s also important to remember that even the large companies and brands of greater international prestige, whatever their sector of activity, are manufacturing in emerging countries, so the difference of offering a product with higher quality, lies in the control of production processes, and in the quality control that is carried out at source.”