China is a market which everyone has been aiming for since a long time. The enormous population of the country accompanied with free rules and consumers looking for new choices make China the ideal destination for your products. However, walking down an interesting but unknown lane is a task filled with many possibly amazing experiences but it does make you vulnerable. Same is trading without a sourcing agent in China. Not convinced? Let us have a look at some of the reasons why you need a Chinese sourcing agent today.
1. Consolidated Communication without Language Barrier
China is a country with much different culture and even more difficult language. While people of India might argue that even India has many regional languages and should be considered as a much difficult place to express their thought, the argument will be shattered in pieces with what you are going to read next. Still, India has a common language in the form of English which has been popular in India and has demolished the language barrier in many respects. Chinese, which is considered as a single language by many is not so. It has around 200 dialects, categorized into four major sub-groups and the most interesting thing is that all the four categories have almost nothing in common. So, you may always find two people from different part of China not able to understand each other. On top of that, Chinese do not have any affection towards English, not assigning any importance to it. In such a difficult scenario, communicating without a sourcing agent in China is equivalent to searching for mangoes under an apple tree. A good sourcing agent assures that the communication within the country is taken care of without any hiccups. So, to communicate your thoughts in the best possible way, sourcing agent is must.
2. Better Chances and Lower Rates at Negotiations
The first challenge which traders face is to make sure that the seller is authentic and his or her products have a good quality. In order to ensure that you are not buying inferior quality, you need to order lesser quantity of products at first, which the Chinese sellers generally decline to do. This is where the sourcing agent enters the fray, finding out the sellers willing to sale their surplus products. In this way, the chance of big losses is minimized. Moreover, the presence of a local representative in the market ensures that you can get the lowest rates via negotiations. After all, people like to listen the representative directly rather than having it translated through an interpreter. Thus, make sure that you have a good sourcing agent in China, giving you the required upper hand in these kinds of transactions.
3. Chances of Competitive Advantage
As stated in the earlier points, having a sourcing agent in China is of immense help in more than one ways for the business. Presence of agent gives a competitive advantage, as you have your representative at every instance. Say you are in race with a competitor to get in touch with an important supplier; you will always be in an advantageous position as there will be no chances of visa and flight related delays. So, before you get into race, make sure you have an advantage card in your pocket.
4. Better Consolidation, Test Buys and Shipping Services
There may be quality tests that need to be done for different products and you might need urgent shipment in order to approve your product. In such cases, your sourcing agent in China would come at rescue, arranging for urgent shipment and delivery.
5. Saves Time on Unqualified Suppliers
There are many unqualified suppliers out in the market who need a different kind of handling. You cannot send an English interpreter to convey your thoughts as a lot of sense would be lost in translation. Also, there will be many suppliers not worth your investment. So, make sure that you have a representative on land solving all these problems.
So, these are some justifications behind the requirement of Chinese sourcing agent.
