A Different Sourcing Company

Here is why.

 

We are committed to reducing your total cost of procurement

Most procurement agents are looking for the cheapest products available.
This is simple.  They open 1688.com, enter a keyword, sort by price and work is done.  Time to move onto the next customer.
Cheap products are the visible 10 percent of the floating iceberg.  The real price is beneath the waves.
Consider:
1. Cheap products mean mediocre customers
Cheap products attract low-income customers.  There are plenty of low-income customers always looking for the cheapest in the niche.  These customers have no brand loyalty – they want the cheapest, even if this means choosing a new product.
Cheap goods are cheaply made.  Plants are always looking to cut production costs and raise profits, and this is easy to do with cheap raw materials and unskilled labor.  The result is unsatisfied customers and after-sales service costs.

Then there is the customer wanting to spend a bit more for the better product.  Their time and money is valuable.  These customers will not look at comparison websites as they have deep brand loyalty.  They want something more sophisticated and better than average.

2. Cheap products build long-term prejudice

Businesses selling cheap products lead to customers recognizing you as cheap.  When they would prefer something of a better quality, they are going to turn to your competition and spend better money.  The only concept these customers have of you and your business is cheap quality.

If you upgrade your goods in the future and hope to convince those customers to try your new goods, it is an uphill battle.  The customer has a prejudice and removing that prejudice will be exceptionally difficult.

Cheap now; cheap tomorrow; cheap forever.

3. The marketing costs of cheap products and quality products are virtually equal

Look at advertising.  Google and Facebook ads charge the same for a cheap or expensive product.  The PPC, pay per click, will be the same no matter the quality of your product.  You will have the same marketing costs but less profit than your competition.

 

We are committed to purchasing products from top manufacturers.

We source products exclusively from the same manufacturers as OEM and ODM world-class brands you see in stores.  These manufacturers have advanced production lines, skilled labor and high standards of quality control.

First-class manufacturers does not immediately mean more expensive.  There are times these manufacturers are cheaper than other manufacturers of cheaper brands.

First-class manufacturers mean stable quality.  Stable quality translates into fewer issues with after-sale issues.  The inspection quality at the factory is often better than a third-party inspection service.

Sourcing Nova believes in sourcing from these first-class manufacturers.  Doing so increases the competitiveness within the niche and will lower overall cost of purchases.  The processes within first-class manufacturers are standardized.  They will not accept bribes from procurement agencies – an important element in the procurement process fundamentally removed from the chain.

This is hard.  It is really hard.  Many procurement agents will not contact a large supplier.  These larger suppliers often will not give smaller sourcing companies any attention.  The larger suppliers have more important customers with much larger budgets.

Most procurement agents will select a small-scale manufacturer for the following:

1. Small-scale manufacturers cannot negotiate well.  The procurement agent has the upper hand in negotiation, and their work will be easy to expand.

2. Small and medium-sized manufacturers are not standardized.  They may bribe the purchasing agent for orders.

We will tell you more industry insider secrets

Information asymmetry between buyers and sellers creates more problems than it is worth.  The insider secrets, the information asymmetry, often lead to adverse selection – one of the parties, often the sourcing agent, will have knowledge the buyers will not have.

Most procurement agents will not share insider news and will take the opportunity to expand the information asymmetry between themselves and their customers – doing so increases their maximum benefit and profit margin at the expense of the customer.

Sourcing Nova feels an informed customer is the best customer and will share any and all insider information we can find.  This will allow you, our customer, to make a better, more informed decision.  More information + objective decision = best possible outcome.

Here is an explanation on what we mean.

Procurement falls into two categories: market procurement trade and factory procurement.  The market purchase trade buys existing stocks from the wholesale markets in China, of which there are a good many.  The most common is the Yiwu Wholesale Market.

Most procurement agents will not tell you the difference between the two.

Let’s put this into simple terms: If you are interested in multiple product types, low MOQ, not fussy about customization and are sensitive to pricing then market purchase trade may be your best option.  If you are interested in fewer styles, higher quality requirements and want customization, factory procurement may be your best option.

The reality is not so cut and dry.  Market procurement trade is often volitile and untrustworthy as a rule.

1. The main issue with market procurement is you will never know where your products are sourced.  Many merchants in Chinese wholesale markets will not disclose where your goods are made – this is one of their big secrets they keep from customers.  A small number of products you order may come from a better factory, and the bulk of your order may come from a sweatshop.  Some products may be stock the factory is just trying to get cleared from the inventory.

2. Market procurement means there is high opportunity for copycats.  Any product available on a wholesale market will be copied, often with inferior raw materials and sub-par labor.

3. Most market procurement will not treat the buyers well after a sale.  The wholesalers may promise a seven day no questions asked refund.  However, the products are in transit during the seven day period.  The products arrive in disrepair or grossly inferior, and the buyer has no recourse.

4. The wholesalers will not hold correct product certification.  They may have the 3C, China Compulsory Certificate, necessary on certain products like most electrical goods.  The wholesale cannot meet CE, required for products sold in the E.U. or most other certifications for that matter.

Do not let this have you thinking market procurement is all bad.  Market procurement is actually better for those new to the sourcing business because:

1. The MOQ

Most stock in market procurement comes from wholesalers who have ample stock already on hand.  There is no MOQ requirement.

2. Considerable variety

China has one of the largest wholesale markets in the world with thousands of wholesalers.  Buyers can find millions of different products.

3. Dropshipping is not an issue

Those in the wholesale market support dropshipping efforts and use online stores like Aliexpress for that purpose.  If dropshipping is your primary interest, market purchase trade is a great place to get going.

Sourcing Nova got its start in this industry from market purchase trade.  As we grew and matured, we dropped the wholesaler and went directly to the manufacturer.  Jump to today.  We want customers to have stellar profit margins, attract the high-end market customer and do so with sourcing from the top manufacturers across China.

 

We know the supply chain of Guangdong like the back of our hands

We have been in Shenzhen now for 16 years and have a complete and thorough understanding of third-party logistics and warehousing.  Our warehouse is over 5,000 square meters (54,000 sq. ft.).  It is normal for us to contact several different manufacturers daily and have cultivated relationships with the best manufacturers and third-party inspection services.  Every connection we make improves how well we can do our job.

If there is a specific product we need to source for a customer, we have little trouble finding the best manufacturers in the industry.  The term we use is ‘passive information channel.’  Many procurement agents do not have this capability.

Additionally, we can make calls, visits and tap contacts for products – our ‘active information channel.’

Other purchasing agents turn to common websites like Alibaba and 1688.com as their primary sourcing platform.  The manufacturers we partner with are not interested in B2B, and their website looks like it was made in 1998.  These manufacturers want to market and work in a much more traditional way, and Sourcing Nova understands this perfectly.

This is not to say we do not use 1688.  We use it daily.

We participate in various exhibitions.  We meet our suppliers here.

We are always looking for industry reports to purchase.  This allows us to go deeply into the supply chain.

We make visits to the manufacturer so the manufacturer knows who we are and we them.

The epidemic did slow things considerably.  We have built solid relationships over the years and still maintain them.

The fact is simple.  Most sourcing agents sit at home, collect information and source from the Internet.  Our process is considerably more involved and thorough.

 

We care more about the user experience.

We have worked with many products and buyers for some time.  This means we understand quality and can focus on the details that matter.

Here is an example of what we mean:

A large number of Chinese procurement agents use Google Translate for the majority of their writing.  Sourcing Nova has an in-house, professional American writer on staff for all of our content.  This means our readers have a much better reading experience.

 

We are more reliable than most purchasing agents

How can we make the claim our competition is unreliable?  Any liar will tell you, “You can trust me!”

It is necessary to remind you of this.  Trust is a huge problem in global trade and can become a large part of the overall sourcing costs.  By building trust and a solid relationship, we can together reduce those costs – often significantly.

We look for manufacturers we can trust, include a degree of supervision and the result?  Greatly reduced after-sale problems with your customers.

As much as we are looking for trusted manufacturers, this  extends to the buyer as well.  This improves our priority with top-level manufacturers, and we become partners this way.

It takes the right person to do the right job.  We stand behind this fact.

All things will change in the world.  Beliefs, the sun and the moon are the only constants.