The following is a questions and answer, with my comments interspersed...
Hi John,
This is Cherie Bouma (Gepke) checking in with another question.
I am trying to find another supplier and have found that China is likely the best place for this. I did send a letter to the Chinese Embassy and have not heard back. I looked online in their economic and trade section and found some links but they are all dead or "stale" links so they provide nothing.
***I am finding this more and more, so I am recommending to stick with HKTDC.com... John***
So then I have done as you suggested and contacted Hong Kong Trade Development Council. I have come up with a list of suppliers that I will contact and most are based in Hong Kong. The HKTDC also suggested that I pay them for their "business matching service" in order to find the best supplier.
***I'd skip that...***
This brings me to my questions. Does Hong Kong still serve as an entrepot for China? If so, when I write letters to the suppliers, should I reference the NTDB for imports from China? Also, if I do not attain the results I would like, is it worth paying them for their business matching service?
*** Hong Kong is not longer the entrepot for China, not like it was up until say 1980.... all is wide open now, except Hong Kong has such advantages, that it does still play an outsized role in China trade. Sure, always quote what facts you have, just know that HK and China are one country, and the data can be broken out or added together, and I think the confusion is skewin the figures... I would just add them all together.***
*An interesting observation. .. while searching HKTDC for suppliers, I found suppliers listed from all over the world, including Europe and UK, not just China, HK and Taiwan. I found this very interesting.
Thanks,
Cherie (Gepke)
Hi Cherie,
Hello, I took John’s class in Las Vegas several months ago. My products are travel related accessories which 90% come from China (researched through NTDB). I contacted the commercial attaché for China in Washington DC and they sent me several links to find suppliers. The website they recommended was http://www.alibaba.com/ . After searching through the suppliers I found the top tier suppliers from my competitors and Walmart/Target. Most suppliers can be contacted through live chat forums. Most will tell you their customers which are your competitors. I also found several more competitors through the Directory of US Importers. I contacted my competitors and they have sent me catalogs, pricelists and most importantly Sales Rep contact information. I verified the supplier’s information through my competitor’s websites for matching products. I have meeting set-up with the suppliers in China for two weeks in October.
John’s system is working perfectly…
I would recommend Alibaba website, I would shy away from paying anyone because they will always recommend what’s in their best interest…Just a few thoughts, hope this helps.
Good Luck
Martin
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Finding China Suppliers
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1 comments:
Thanks John!
Your comments are very helpful. I was being very cautious about lumping Honk Kong in with China because I did not know if they were sensitive to that and still operating as if independent. My Sister-in-Law is from Taiwan,(yes, still independent from China) and she is very sensitive to being referred to as Chinese or being though of as tied to China in any way.
Cherie
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