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Are you planning to start a new business? Entrepreneurs who wish to enter the products markets have two options. They can either outsource the items their business plans to offer to the buyers or come up with an original idea to manufacture a product. While the former seems like an easy task to achieve with only a few difficulties, the latter is a lot more challenging.
Finding a manufacturer who is going to execute your original product plan effectively is hard. You have two options; either manufacture the goods based on your idea yourself or hire an external manufacturer to do it by taking assistance from a globally recognized foreign trade B2B platform. It goes without saying that doing the latter proves far more cost-effective than the former as it does not require you to hire factory workers, purchase manufacturing equipment, and invest huge sums of money in buying or renting land.
It is time to begin discussing the basics of a manufacturer before we move on to talk about acquiring proficient suppliers. Most importantly, we are also going to shed some light on the perks of selecting B2B eCommerce as the ultimate option for obtaining a manufacturer to produce custom goods.
Here's the thing, a supplier is an entity that can provide products in bulk quantities. There are minor differences between wholesalers, suppliers, and manufacturers. A manufacturer utilizes raw materials to produce finished goods and supplies them to exporters, wholesalers, retailers, etc.
Buyers can also purchase products in bulk directly from the manufacturers, eliminating the need for mediation by third parties. Such eliminations mean reduced costs of purchasing, which ultimately increases the profit margin of the sellers. However, finding manufacturers is far more challenging than people ought to believe.
Manufacturers mostly indulge in the production of a single type of product. Suppose your original product idea turns out to have more variations in the future to satisfy a larger target market. In that case, you may need to hire additional manufacturers to attain success.
The ideal way of figuring out an original product idea and operate with a unique selling point is to recognize the market gap. This is an opportunity to start producing and supplying products that are unavailable in the markets worldwide. The idea could be entirely unique or a variation in a product that already exists but does not meet all the requirements of the consumers.
Once an idea is birthed, entrepreneurs start to come up with options to execute it. Finding a manufacturer or becoming one are two of the most commonly used methods. The latter may seem like a suitable choice but only in the long run as it demands a significant amount of investment in the beginning. However, the former only involves finding businesses that provide OEM and ODM services within your respective industries.
OEM refers to 'Original Equipment Manufacturer while ODM stands for 'Original Design Manufacturer. OEM involves producing a new product, while ODM means introducing an existing item within the local or international markets after making a few adjustments to it. Once you realize the category of your product idea, it becomes easier to shortlist the potential manufacturers that can assist in its completion effectively.
The next thing you need to realize is the existence of numerous modernized sources of finding manufacturers in today's era. We live in a vastly developed century where technology continues to take over while adding convenience and efficiency to our daily lives. It has improved not only our personal lives but also the ways of doing business. This influence is undoubtedly fruitful as it contributes to helping companies fulfill their goals and objectives efficiently.
You have a lot of options for finding manufacturers, but we are going to discuss the most favorable one in all aspects. Have you ever heard of B2B eCommerce? There are numerous international trade platforms where OEM and ODM companies are enlisted, awaiting entrepreneurs like you to hire them to produce goods with unique designs and features.
The most important reason behind using a foreign trade B2B platform to find manufacturers relates to the avoidance of scammers. What would you do if a manufacturer claims to make goods as per your ideas but fails to supply them at the time of delivery? What if you come across a scammer posing as a manufacturer on the internet? Think about the substantial losses your business would incur before even beginning to capture the attention of the buyers within the markets. Not only that, but your idea would also be exposed, which could lead to theft. None of it sounds very promising, right?
B2B eCommerce firms register manufacturing businesses after running security checks on them for verification purposes. Each manufacturer you encounter via such international trade platforms is authenticated and bound by a legal agreement to deliver goods as promised. These manufacturers do not risk the loss of credibility as it would damage their reputation for eternity even if they try to come back with a different name.
B2B eCommerce platforms like TradeWheel.com offer you a wide range of manufacturers. You can choose the one that can fulfill your orders while charging reasonable prices that do not drive expenses up drastically. Your orders remain protected from the time you pay to the time of delivery.
TradeWheel.com, among other portals, offers you the option of surfing its online marketplace for suppliers by using specific filters. You can easily find a supplier based in a certain region, such as China, Korea, Germany, Thailand, etc., where products are manufactured at lower prices. Similarly, it is possible to select a manufacturer that operates ethically instead of resorting to inhumane practices like hiring children to work. You can compare suppliers by reading the reviews left behind by those who have previously availed their services for the same purposes.
To sum it up, collaborating with one of the top B2B platforms such as TradeWheel.com and Alibaba allows you to take calculated risks, eliminate uncertainties fully, and enjoy sustainable growth with equally impressive annual statistics. It is safe, efficient, and convenient for all the key parties involved.
B2B eCommerce is all about utilizing digital means of communication to finalize profitable deals. Such international trade platforms have exclusive online B2B websites with all the features, options, and benefits you need to establish a fruitful connection with potential manufacturers. Leading B2B portals have also launched mobile applications that can be easily downloaded on smartphones with any sort of operating system for contacting the firm's associates as well as the manufacturing companies.
There's an option for you to register your business as well. In addition to this, you can post buy-offers to explain all the intricate details about your product idea. Prospects can view the requests for quotations you upload via the B2B platform's website or app and respond accordingly. All of this can be done through a laptop or smartphone connected to the internet from anywhere on the planet.
Foreign trade platforms, including B2B eCommerce, are not bound by any restrictions of the region, time zone, language, industry, budget, etc. Anyone can get their dreams fulfilled by these portals. As far as the execution of an original product idea is concerned, you can connect with an international as well as a local manufacturer without any difficulty. Professionals suggest using the local one as a backup in case the overseas supplier's delivery gets delayed or proves inaccurate.
If a manufacturer fails to deliver accurately produced goods, your orders would be revised, of course. However, waiting for the revised products to come through would mean losing customers who are not as loyal to stick around for months. This is where keeping a local manufacturer to handle such situations proves significant as it prevents the loss of buyers to the competitors.
Devising a precise plan before embarking on a journey to find potential manufacturers is important, or you could easily be led astray. Here are six simple steps you need to follow to encounter valuable manufacturers who are going to deliver products according to your designs and ideas;
1. Research: This is the most critical aspect of any business plan. A lot of executives and business owners often oversee this step and begin looking for prospective manufacturers without taking their options into account. As stated earlier, the ideal way of doing what's required is collaborating with a foreign trade B2B platform. Examples of some of the internationally acclaimed ones include TradeWheel.com, Alibaba, Made-In-China, ECVV, and GlobalSources.
2. Reach Out To Attain Useful Information: The next step is to learn about the platform you have selected after researching B2B eCommerce sector thoroughly. Asking questions like estimated delivery time, cost per unit, minimum order quantities, manufacturing processes, etc., is crucial as it helps during the finalization of the deal. You also need to inquire about their policy if a product turns out defective while continuing the negotiations accordingly. Furthermore, discuss the terms of payment prior to completing an agreement with a manufacturer.
3. Tell The Manufacturer About Your Product Idea: Once everything has been agreed upon while satisfying the demands of both key parties, i.e., you and the manufacturer, it is time to communicate your designs. You can give verbal or written instructions and send sketches via social media apps like Skype, WeChat, WhatsApp, etc. There's also the option of making drawings depicting your original product idea by using software commonly employed during the development process of any item.
4. Make Sure To Order Prototypes Or Samples Before: This is needed for a lot of reasons. You have to place an order for samples first to be sure of your decision to select a particular manufacturer. Moreover, perfectly produced samples can be kept for quality assurance in the future when the full order of products arrives. You can refer to those samples if there is a fault in the inventory of the final products delivered by the manufacturer.
5. Indulge In A Fair Negotiation Process: When you are satisfied with the samples and are about to place the final order of products in bulk quantities, make sure to negotiate the prices. However, be fair in your dealings to ensure everyone gets to enjoy profitable outcomes. This will surely prove beneficial in the long run when the time comes to restock.
6. Place The Final Order: The last step involves placing the final order for products to be delivered at a date agreed upon by both parties involved in the negotiations. It is advisable to go forward with this stage after checking the quality of the samples thoroughly. Place an order only if the prototypes meet your company's standards. You will have to redo the entire process again if the samples are not up to mark to avoid substantial irrecoverable losses later.
Any challenges a new business may face while acquiring a reputable manufacturer to produce customized products are easily eliminated by following these six steps.
Taking adequate measures such as working with an international B2B trade platform and following a carefully laid out plan to acquire manufacturers is all you need to do to execute an original product idea successfully. It may seem like a hectic journey at the start, but you can overcome a lot of barriers by sticking to everything discussed above. Furthermore, your business can start filling the market gap and building a clientele of loyal buyers while earning maximized short and long-term returns.
