how to source products for shopify

when it comes to sourcing products for,e-commerce the best place that you can,source products is of course china and,the main reason behind this is because,of the price point sourcing products,from china allows you to find products,with a smaller upfront investment as,opposed to sourcing products from local,suppliers but i know there can be a lot,of skepticism when it comes to working,with chinese suppliers will the supplier,be reliable will you lose your money,will your products turn up will they,come in a reasonable amount of time and,can you build a long-term relationship,with that supplier so in today's video,i'm going to be showing you how you can,source products from china with reliable,suppliers with trade assurance so that,you won't lose your money and how you,can find really good quality products,from china for your e-commerce brand and,this is the exact strategy that i've,used to source products from china for,my men's custom suit e-commerce brand so,let's get straight into it so in order,to start sourcing products from china,for your e-commerce brand we will be,using a website called madeinchina.com,so i will leave a link in the,description to made in china.com and,this is the exact website that i've used,to source custom suits for my custom,suit e-commerce brand now once you land,on the home page the site is pretty,simple to navigate so down the left-hand,side you will see all of the different,categories and within those categories,you will see sub-categories so let's say,you wanted to start selling a fashion,product maybe children's clothing you,can come to apparel and accessories and,you can just go and click on children's,apparel and then it will show you,thousands of different suppliers and,thousands of different products that you,can go and choose from now of course you,can go and search for a specific product,as well so let's say you wanted to start,selling baseball jackets you can come in,here and just type in baseball jacket,and then once again it will go and show,you loads of different suppliers that,will go and create this product for you,now there are a few things that you want,to keep an eye out for so you will see,these three little symbols here so you,will see this is an audited supplier,this one here says it's a verified,business and this one has a 360 virtual,tour so that means that you can sort of,look around their warehouse now that was,not that important for me the most,important is audited supplier so that,basically means that the suppliers,information has been checked before they,could start actually selling on the,website now the way that you can go and,narrow these supplies down on made in,china if you come to the left-hand side,and you just scroll you can go and click,on this audited supplier so if you just,tick this then basically it will only,show you suppliers that have been,audited now you want to go a little bit,deeper than that so once you actually,hover on the audited supplier it will,show you what information has actually,been audited so there is some key,elements here that you want to look out,for so the main ones that i personally,look out for is production capacity and,quality control so that basically means,that they've checked that they can,actually make the amount of products,that they say they can so they have the,facilities to do so and the quality,control means that the products are up,to standard and i also go and have a,look for some other things so general,information is important but personally,ones that don't really matter are,financial imposition so i guess,financial position means how well the,supplier is doing financially now for me,that doesn't matter too much you might,want to look into it more yourself,because maybe if they're on the brink of,liquidation you don't want them to be,your long-term supplier but like i said,personally i think as long as some of,the other information has been checked,that's good enough for me now maybe you,want your brand to be eco-friendly so,you'd be looking at this bottom here,where it says energy saving and emission,reduction you want that to have a tick,under your supplier so you can go and,have a look on all of these different,suppliers so you can see this one here,has energy saving so that means that,their information has been checked to,make sure that they're eco-friendly so,this is an eco-friendly supplier now the,next thing that you can do you can go,and reduce the minimum order quantity so,maybe you want to just start with 20,baseball jackets let's say you don't,have a massive budget and you just want,to start with 20 baseball jackets see if,you can sell them and then maybe you,want to order some more so what you can,do is you can go to minimum order and,you can type in 20 and if you just hit,enter then it will show you all of the,suppliers that will allow you to start,with a minimum order quantity of 20 or,less so you can see this supplier will,actually allow you to start with just,two pieces now just bear in mind,sometimes they don't allow customization,on these types of items so you want to,go and double check that even if it's a,small minimum order quantity can i still,add my own logo to it and things like,that so if we click on this supplier for,example we can go and have a look if we,can add customizations to this jacket,add our logos pick our own colors pick,the fabrics and those type of things so,if we scroll down you can come to,product description and from here is,where you'll find all of the information,regarding customizing the actual product,so let's scroll down some more so you,can see we've got the product properties,it's got some good photos of the product,we have the company profile so as you,scroll down further on the product,details then you'll be able to find out,information about the customization of,the product so you can see the minimum,order quantity they're actually saying,is 300 to 800 pieces of each design so,sometimes you might find that the,minimum order quantity says 20 and then,when you dig deeper into the product,details you notice that it's a lot,higher than that now personally i would,steer clear of these types of suppliers,because they're trying to lure you in by,offering you a low minimum order,quantity and then you can see that their,minimum order quantity is a little bit,higher so you can see if we just scroll,down can i have the logo on my product,they say yes but once again the minimum,order quantity is 300 so you'd want to,go back to the drawing board in this,case so let's scroll down often times,for fashion items you probably won't,find minimum order quantities less than,50. so if we go back we can just go and,type in 50 this time and we might be,able to find a more realistic supplier,so let's scroll down once again so you,can see we've got the audited supplier,ticked so now let's go and have a look,if we can find a supplier that's,offering maybe 30 pieces as a minimum,order quantity so i've just clicked on,this product here and if we go further,into the product details we can see that,the minimum order quantity for this,product is just 20 pieces so that's a,lot more realistic if you have a small,budget now if you want to go and,customize things like the fabric you can,see here that you need a minimum order,quantity of 500 so sometimes the,supplier will only allow you to,customize certain things depending on,the quantity but like i said if you want,to just start with a custom design and a,custom logo you can start with just 20,pieces with this particular supplier and,then if you scroll up you will be able,to see the quantity breaks so obviously,the more you order the cheaper it gets,so this is the best way to start looking,for suppliers by going for low minimum,order quantities and also just making,sure that they're an audited supplier,the next thing you're going to want to,check is if the supply actually allows,you to order a sample i always recommend,ordering a sample before you order a,bulk order you want to check the quality,you want to make sure that your design,has come out correctly and you want to,make sure that you're getting value for,money before you order a bulk order so,if we have a look at this product once,again and we just scroll down you can,see they have samples ready within five,to seven days which is a really quick,turnaround time so if you see anywhere,in the product details where it says,samples that of course means that they,offer a sample so like i said always,order a sample first when sourcing,products from china before you make the,bulk order because you just want to,check that the quality is in place,before you go and make that purchase now,once you have had a look at a few,different products like this then you,can go and contact the supplier so it's,really easy to contact suppliers on made,in china.com you can just scroll and you,can click on chat with supplier and from,here you can actually just start a,conversation with the supplier so this,will actually bring you to an online,chat with the supplier now sometimes,they're not always available right away,so if this is the case you can click on,contact now as well and then you can,just go and send them a message and,usually they get back to you by email,now when it comes to contacting the,supplier you want to build a good,relationship from day one and you want,to make sure that they have really good,communication because this is one of the,most essential things when you are,sourcing products from china if they,don't have good communication they're,not going to understand your needs for,the product you're trying to source and,there might be some problems if you are,waiting for a shipment or things like,that and you're trying to find out,information from them if they don't have,good communication then this is a,massive red flag and i recommend not,ordering from a supplier that doesn't,have really good communication so the,way i lay out my contact to them is to,make sure that they can easily contact,me back with answers to the specific,questions that i ask them so you can see,here i've just said hi there i hope,you're well and that's just to build a,bit of rapport with the supplier then,you've just said i'm looking to order,custom logo boostable jackets with your,lowest minimum order quantity of 20. i,would like to add an embroidered logo,which i have attached so just attach an,image of your logo to whatever the type,of product it is that you're trying to,source and also you can go and add some,images of similar types of products so,for example if it's a baseball jacket i,could go and have a look on asos at some,different types of baseball jackets that,i like the look of and say i'm trying to,replicate this type of style and then,after that i've just put a few questions,and i always put my questions in number,form because i like the supplier to,answer me back in number form and that's,how i know if they have good,communication is they've answered every,single one of my questions so always use,that little trick to go and find,suppliers that have really good,communication so i've just said number,one what is your turnaround time and,shipping time for the minimum order,quantity what will be the total price,for 20 pieces including shipping so they,might quote you a price but sometimes,maybe they don't add the shipping price,so always ask that question so you know,how much it's going to cost you in total,to get it shipped to your location then,i've just said what fabrics are the,baseball jackets made from so you can,ask some more specific questions about,the particular product that you're,trying to source so that could be maybe,what type of plastic or what type of,metal they're using depending on what,type of product you're trying to source,and then i just said what fabrics do you,offer so then i just added some extra,ones in there velvet faux leather so,like i said do some research on the type,of product you're trying to source and,then you can go into a bit more detail,with the type of questions that you want,to ask the supplier then after that all,i've just said is any information is,greatly appreciated once again just,building a bit of rapport with the,supplier thanks elliot then we need to,do is just hit send inquiry so i,recommend doing this to around 5 to 10,even 15 different suppliers get a few,different quotes,make sure that they send you images of,previous work and projects that they've,done with other people so always get,lots of images from them so just ask,them can you send me some images of a,previous products that you've created so,you can go and have a look at the type,of quality that they deliver that's the,best way to do this and then of course,once you have found the supplier you,like you can go and order a sample i,recommend to order from around three to,four perhaps five suppliers for my,custom suit e-commerce store i ordered,from five different suppliers until i,found the suit that i really liked so it,can take time to narrow it down and,that's why i recommend always ordering,lots of samples as well now another,really great feature that the made in,china website offers is for you to,request a quotation for the type of,product that you're trying to source so,if you just scroll down on the home page,you will see easy sourcing and from here,you can fill out this form to request a,quotation for a product so when it comes,to filling this form out you can just do,the exact same thing so once again i've,just said i hope you're well i'm looking,to order your lowest minimum order,quantity so you can just put that in,there you don't have to put of 20 or 50,just whatever their lowest minimum order,quantity is when you post a request the,suppliers will come to you and say our,lowest minimum order quantity is 50 or,20 or 100 and then you can just weed out,the ones that have a high minimum order,quantity that maybe doesn't suit your,budget once again i've just put in a few,questions so they can answer those,questions again what fabrics do you,offer what's the turnaround time all of,those types of things and then it will,just say how many pieces and then all,you need to do is just hit post request,now once you hit post request now once,again you can go and upload images and,files so maybe you've got a style guide,or once again maybe you've just got some,images of the type of product that you,want to create and maybe an image of,your logo and you will see the rfq score,here so you want to get this closer to,100 as possible and this score basically,just means that the more information,you're giving the supplier the easier it,is going to be for them to tell you if,they can source the product for you or,not and then you do have this valid to,option so this basically just means how,long suppliers can contact you for so,maybe just want this request to be valid,for one or two weeks and then you want,suppliers to stop contacting you so you,can just go and set this for one or two,weeks and then you've got a few further,things that you can narrow down so you,can go and choose things like samples,available which you definitely want to,do you could go for no minimum order,quantity required if you wanted to go,for that so you can go and choose a few,different things if you want experience,factories and things like that so it's,totally up to you then you do have the,shipment terms now this is where it gets,a little bit more in depth so if you're,just sourcing products for the first,time i wouldn't worry too much about,this this basically just means who's,going to pay the import tax generally,the onus is on the customer to pay the,import tax so on you so you can just,leave this as the default which is fob,you can put in a target unit price so,maybe you don't want to pay more than 15,per baseball jacket so you can put that,in there so whatever your target unit,prices that you're willing to pay and,then you can put in a destination port,so for me i'd put for example united,kingdom as my destination port so that,they know i want to ship the products to,the united kingdom or you can put the,state where you are based in the united,states if that is where you're based,then you need to do is just hit submit,and then the suppliers will start,contacting you and you will get email,notifications once you start receiving,requests from suppliers another really,great feature of made in china that i,want to show you is if you scroll all,the way down to the bottom to the footer,you will see custom products and these,are the types of products that allow you,the most flexibility when it comes to,customization so you can pretty much,customize any product or made in china,when you contact the supplier but the,products under custom products like i,say give you the most flexibility to,actually customize different things so,you'll see that these products are,narrowed down into some categories once,again so we have parallel fashion gifs,consumer electronics home decor and,outdoor sports so we go to apparel and,fashion and let's just say for example,we click on bag and we can find loads of,different products where we have a lot,of freedom and flexibility to go and,customize everything to do with this,type of bag so if i just scroll down on,some of these products let's say we,wanted to start selling travel outdoor,bags we can just click on customize it,and then from here you can go and choose,the customizable options so once again,you can choose the material so you do,want polyester you want nylon canvas,whatever you want you can choose the,inside material you can choose the color,now it will say enter your custom needs,so maybe you don't like any of these,colors so you can go and enter in your,own color once again you can go and,choose the size so maybe you don't like,any of these sizes you can go and enter,in your own custom size then you've got,the printing process so maybe you want,it to be subliminated maybe you want it,to be silk screen so of course you need,to do a little bit of research to know,what the difference is between these,types of customizations and once again,you can go and choose the quantity and,then it's got a need sample so you will,hit yes because you always want that,sample and then from here you can click,on create custom request so i really,recommend to go and have a look at the,custom products section on made in china,and that will give you some ideas of the,types of products that you can sell with,your ecommerce brand if you are just,having a look around and you haven't,decided on what type of product you want,to sell yet one last feature that i want,to show you when sourcing products from,made in china for e-commerce is to have,a look at some of the trade shows,because this is where you can go and get,some really amazing discounts on,products that you want to sell and this,is where you can find some really great,ideas for products to sell if you're,just having a look around and you,haven't decided on what product you want,to sell so from the home page you scan,you can scroll down once again and you,will see trade shows so from here you,can start looking and clicking on some,of these trade shows so for example if i,just go and click on this smart expo and,we can go and have a look at some of the,different products that are available,within this trade show so once you click,on the trade show itself if you scroll,down then you will be able to see all of,the different products that are,available within this trade show and you,will see all of the different suppliers,that are selling products and if you,click on any of these videos it will,give you a little bit more information,about the supplier and then you can just,click on send inquiry and like i said,you can always get some really great,discounts by having a look at these,trade shows usually the trade shows are,done within specific industries so you,can see for this particular trade show,this is more aimed at industrial types,of products but they always have loads,of different trade shows for different,types of categories so once again if we,go to the fashion example you can go and,keep your eye out on made in china for,any fashion trade shows that are coming,up and once again that will open your,eyes a little bit more to different,suppliers and you can go and get some,discounts on different types of products,through these trade shows so that is how,you can start sourcing products from,china for your e-commerce brand i hope,you enjoyed the video give it a big,thumbs up if you did and make sure to,subscribe to the channel for more,e-commerce content and check out any of,the videos on screen now so you can,follow my e-commerce journey so far and,i'll see you in one of those videos

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