Some visitors that come to Chinese fairs are intended for a trusted long-term supplier but how can they find the best supplier quickly and accurately since there are numerous booths and suppliers in a fair, and all the companies are showing their best image to buyers? And, after finding a satisfactory supplier, how could you negotiate the price with him and get products at the best rate?
In this article, we will give you practical tips on the details to help you better evaluate and find the best supplier to get the best deal in the price negotiation. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us and we will provide you with exclusive and professional consulting services.
How to find the best supplier in fairs.
Finding the best supplier in fairs is not an easy task because there are so many suppliers in a fair and it seems that they all suitable to cooperate with. You will probably miss some details about the true situation of them, so please refer to the 5 tips below to improve your ability to identify suppliers.
1. Make enough preparation before coming
If you want to make sure that you succeed at something, you must be well prepared. In order to avoid the situation where you don’t know what to do on the day of the fair or you can’t meet your goals, you must complete your preparation work one or two days in advance.
a. Formulate visiting plan
You are supposed to plan the number of booths you will visit that day and the time each booth will take, based on the exhibitor list and map. A fair organization has spent many years analyzing the behavior of buyers and exhibitors and found that each buyer would visit 17-26 booths at a fair, with each booth lasting 13-21 minutes. Based on these data, you can plan your visit scientifically. You should also mark your visiting route on the map to avoid getting lost in the exhibition hall or wasting unnecessary time on repeated routes.
b. Determine to visit focus
According to the exhibitor list, determine whether there are some particular booths you must visit or not. They may be brand companies or have emerging technologies. You can search for suppliers’ official websites, and learn some news about their background and relevant information.
c. Set visiting goals
You need to set goals for your visit in advance, clearly identify the product information you are looking for, and the key issues that should be discussed with the suppliers. If you represent a company, you will also need to list your working authority and the purchasing budget for each product to avoid misunderstanding and error.
Also read on; 5 Steps Tell You How to Apply for Attending the Canton Fair
2. Focus on the products
When you are choosing a supplier, remember that the product is always the core. For example, When you go to a booth, the most important task is to test their products personally. You should notice every detail of the product, including the craft, function, quality, etc.
However, since you can not stay in each booth for too long, you may not be able to find product defects in a short time. Therefore, you can ask to take samples back to the hotel for further study. Don’t forget to ask business cards as well, so that you can have further communication with the suppliers about products.
3. Make intuitive judgment in a site visit
When you attend a fair, you can communicate face to face with the suppliers, and you need to remind yourself to seize the opportunity to consciously feel and experience. The strength and quality of a supplier can be reflected from some very subtle places but may be overlooked. You can examine the details from the following points.
a. The staff
Firstly, pay attention to the clothing and appearance of the booth staff, because you can tell whether he attaches enough importance to the fair. Then, the staff who can always maintain a warm and patient attitude towards the buyers will appear to be more sincere. In addition, the staff should have the expertise to convey company and product information to attendees precisely. Remember to take notes with the exchange situation in time for a recheck.
b. The booth
You should pay attention to the placement of booths, because generally speaking, the better suppliers will be arranged in the fair center or entrance, where you can easily see them. Then, the size of the booth, which is a reflection of the strength of the supplier as well. Finally, the layout of the booth should not be ignored, from which you can see whether the suppliers have their own characteristics and their commitment to the fairs.
4. Visit directly to factories
When you decide to come to a fair, you should not miss this great opportunity to visit the suppliers’ factories and find the best supplier. For example, When you attend the Canton Fair in Guangzhou, China, you can ask the suppliers to show you around their factories, because there are numerous factories in furniture, lighting, shoes, textiles, jewelry, electronics, and other industries in Guangdong Province. Through site visits, you can gain much information about the suppliers from the size of the factory, the quality of the workers, manufacturing craft, machinery, and equipment.
Of course, you can turn to us to ask for an accompaniment to the factory. With over twelve years of sourcing experience and excellent language ability, we have unique skills in communicating with suppliers and we will do our best to ensure that you find a satisfactory supplier.
5. Compare among several suppliers
Normally, there are a large amount of suppliers of the same field in fairs, especially in some professional fairs, which gives your chance to shop around. You can collect several samples of certain product so that you can compare and analyze them to find the best one. Apart from the comparison of products, it is also necessary to compare the prices to find high cost-effective one.
How to get best deal in fairs
After finding the best supplier, it is time to promote your order. Price negotiation is essential if you want to make a perfect purchase. We summarize 5 tips on how to get the best deal in fairs below and hope that they can help you during the price negotiation.
1. Set a realistic target price
Through surfing on the Internet, your own purchasing experience and the one-site visit, you will have a basic cognition of the material cost and market price. After shopping around in fairs, set a realistic target price in your mind according to the market prices, quality requirements of your ideal products and budget. Do not drive a hard bargain, otherwise the suppliers will be suspicious of your cooperation sincerity.
2. Build a strong relationship
One of the advantages of buying at fairs is the opportunity to speak to different suppliers about products and they can share an insider’s perspective of certain industry. When you have a conversation with a supplier about a potential purchase, don’t hesitate to also ask about the product’s focus and market trends. This is how you can begin to build a rewarding relationship with suppliers and the strong relationship can not only help you lower the price, but also can pay off in the long-run.
3. Avoid unnecessary product customization
Customized tooling often be used to produce customized products, such as injection molds. Although an injection mold can be used for a very large number of units, it is quite expensive and paid by the buyers in most cases. In general, the more customized products you order, the higher the tooling cost will be.
Therefore, try to avoid product customization unless it’s essential or limit the product customization to components or materials that don’t require expensive tooling.
4. Buy larger volumes
Obviously, buy more and you’ll get a lower unit price. However, many buyers tend to buy from more suppliers and thus reduce the quantity purchased from each one of them. If you base your product selection on what the suppliers have to offer, rather than selecting a number of suppliers on a predetermined product list, orders can easily be concentrated on a smaller amount of suppliers.
5. Offer attractive payment terms
There is another way to secure larger discounts, which is to offer attractively high deposits. An in-house negotiation class can help to calculate the best deposit point your firm can offer. I’m sure that if your supplier receives deposits of 60-70 percent upfront, they’ll be more amenable to consider discount requests.
Still confused about how to find the best supplier and get the best deal in fairs, please be free to consult us. We are always ready to offer professional and exclusive services to you.