This article intends to tell you how to realize your sourcing of smart products from China at home. We will make tutorials for you to successfully source from China suppliers. Just follow these six steps: Define your category, use google trends to analyze trends and pick out niche products, research market, make in-depth product research, how to find supplier in China and how to request samples.
Define your category
Smart light, smart switch, wifi socket, smart lock, robot cleaner
Using Google trends to analyze the trends.
How To Use Google Trends To Get Winning Products
Google Trends is a popular tool to find out trending keywords. Anyone with a G account can search how popular a specific term is.
Google trends shows you unlimited possibilities. You can learn and find related products by this tool.
Follow the three steps and make full use of Google trends.
1. Log-in to gmail account and insert Google Trends on your browse.
You can search smart products.
2. Investigate Search Term
You can find out about the increase in searches and seasonality at the same time.
Check out the queries:
Smart home products, google products, google smart home products and so on.
Now you can decide which term you will keep and make more research. However, never be afraid of results whose number seems not so much. The number doesn’t represent numbers of queries in Google.com, it is just a proportion of interest from users.
Take next step to see which city smart products are popular in. In fact, smart products can be sold worldwide. But you should focus one specific country and conclusive cities firstly.
3. Analyze Related Data After Checking Geographic Info.
Find topics related to your smart products. Filter those topics from the top one to last one. Then you will know which specific product you should put in your product page.
Research the market in details.
You should know how many sellers are selling the type of smart products in current market.
Head to amazon, ebay, etsy or other sites to check out how many competitors are selling the same or similar products. To some extent, to research market is to analyze a list of competitors.
Analyze your competitors as follows:
Range of products.
Their online marketing strategy.
Their selling price.
Their shipping ways and charge.
Their designs and images.
Whether they have innovative products.
Competition of competitors.
What is their main traffic source?
How about their after service?
Find your competitors' customers as follows:
Age
Gender
Reviews (Good and bad.)
Whether they are long-term clients
Knowing the age and gender of potential customers about your smart products will help you decrease much budget when do organic search or paid search. Reading reviews of products will help you find potential products. Such as good reviews will help you know which type of product has no quality or other problems. Bad reviews is the gap for you when exploit new products. For your competitor’s products have defects, you will have opportunities to sell this product well if quality is better.
How to do in-depth product research and boost your online store sales.
Most people are looking for perfect product and never start. In fact, there is no perfect product. Each product has challenges to overcome. All products have pros and cons. You should make deep understanding of your products and find more niche points. If you have a store on amazon, you can use Junglescount to help you make in-depth products research. Log in to this tool and see how many sellers are selling smart products. What kind of smart products they are selling.
Check out price of the smart products from your competitors and price your products.
See monthly sales of your competitors and make a goal of selling plan.
To read reviews of the same type of products on amazon.
How to find suppliers in China
After defining which is your ideal smart product, make next step to find reliable China suppliers.
Here we would like to introduce how to find China suppliers online.
Online supplier directories - Made-in-China.com
Lower risk - A majority of suppliers on Made-in-China.com are audited suppliers having SGS identification.
Easier searches - Filter search results based on the exact product you need.
Faster research - Quickly find suppliers' product offerings and contact information.
Showroom Show - Go to 360 virtual office and see product sample
Google is an ocean. You can find any supplier or info on it.
The easiest way to find smart products wholesale suppliers on Google is by searching “[Product] + manufacturer.” Such as robot cleaner manufacturer.
Compared to meet or find suppliers in offline trade shows, you will save much cost and energy.
In fact, no matter you find suppliers online or attend trade shows, you will find that you will meet the same suppliers online and offline. So why not save cost and meet them online ?
Contact your Chinese manufacturers - Make a list of manufacturers you find on Made-in-China.com.
1. Gather information.
You should know what kind of supplier your company needs. Collect detailed and exact info from each of your suppliers before making a list. To make things easier, you could choose those companies on your purchase frequent basis. Then handle this list to your purchasing department.
When have a list of 10-15 China manufacturers per category, you will want to create request for more information and forms. Such as company name, address, phone number, tax, email, key contact people, taxation, payment terms, price and so on.
2. Evaluate results.
After you receive the quotation and forms. Choose the one who fits your needs. If a supplier needs you to finish payment within 15 days, however, your capital cycle is one month, you need to exclude them to avoid late payment fees. Just choose the supplier whose payment needs is closer than your accounting cycle.
Negotiate
1. Never Compromise When Communication
You must have a bottom line. And know the bottom line of your suppliers. If price or other conditions cannot satisfy your bottom line, try to let him know and continue to negotiate.
2. Research Actual Costs
When you know the actual costs, you will know which range of price is more reasonable. On a basis of win-win results, you should let your supplier earn enough money and let yourself earn much money.
5. Discover Other Areas To Get Mutual Gain
If supplier doesn’t give you discount on price, focus on other areas of agreement, such as down payment, discount if buy bulk, length of scope of warranty and other areas that can attract suppliers to give you discount.
6.Send Inquiry to Multiple Suppliers
You’d better send inquiries to at least five suppliers. And check out who can provide you with more competitive price.
How to Request Product Samples from Suppliers
After you finish finding suppliers and complete the negotiation, you need to start next journey: request product samples. Why you should order samples?
1.You Can Test the Quality And Functions
For the smart products, you have reviewed the functions online. However, you have not touched, you will not have using experience. Your final aim is to hope your customers feel the smart products are awesome and useful. Thus, you need to request a sample and experience the using feeling of first-hand products. If product is perfect, then you will put the product into the market. If product has some defects, you can ask supplier to improve or drop one supplier to choose another.
2.Test the Supplier
To some extent, ordering samples from suppliers can help you verify which supplier is more competitive and who sincerely wants to cooperate with you. From the product quality, shipping, packages and other things, you can pick out who is more appropriate.
Now, how to request product samples from suppliers?
Here's a simple email template you can check out:
Subject: Request for Product Sample Smart Lights
Hi There,
My name is Daisy from Jingle Home Furnishings. We are currently looking to purchase and develop our own high-quality smart lights for the EU market. Please send us attached several photographs and a short video of product design and full specifications.
Specifications:
Materials:
Patterns:
Functions:
Please provide us more info about the working process.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
All the Best!
Daisy Miller
Jingle Home Furnishings
However, if you have requirements of curtains design, you need to instruct it in details in the email letter.
Ask if the sample product will be different from sample in mass production. For sometimes, one sample is only produced in small quantities, the other samples can be manufactured in mass production. To consider about your future stock, you need to clear about it.
Paying for Smart Products Samples
Some suppliers may provide free samples to you; However, many suppliers don’t want to provide free samples to you because you both have not established mutual trust.
Some manufacturers agree to subtract the costs of samples if you place a larger order. But you should know that is on the basis of future ordering. If you only order a sample and don’t order in the continuous cooperation, they will not refund or subtract any money.
Payment Method
The very common payment methods are paypal, western union, L/C, T/T and cash. Choose a payment method that both of you feel comfortable and convenient to pay.
Order Smart Products Samples from More than One Supplier
For ordering samples from more than one suppliers, you will get to know whose is best and competitive. And ordering from multiple suppliers makes no sense and wastes money.
Inciting competition is a brilliant strategy especially when fail rate is high for a specific product. Ordering and paying for samples from more than one supplier makes a lot of sense.
In the end, after you read our article, you must know the basic steps of sourcing smart products from China suppliers economically.
