THIRTEEN YEARS IN SHANGHAI. I STILL GO BACK TO THE FACTORY FLOOR.
I lived and worked in Shanghai for 13 years.
That is where I learned sourcing properly: buying, manufacturing, shipping, visiting factories and dealing with the problems that appear between a quotation and a finished product.
I still go back.
Living in Shanghai taught me something that is difficult to learn from a spreadsheet.
A large part of sourcing happens in conversations, factory visits and small decisions that never make it into the original quotation.
My Chinese is basic. My experience of doing business there is not.
The work itself follows a fairly simple sequence.
Find the right suppliers. Visit them. Understand what they actually make. Compare quotations properly. Agree the sample. Put the specification in writing. Agree tooling and commercial terms. Follow production. Check quality before shipment. Arrange freight, customs and documentation.
Then make sure the required certificates and compliance documents are in place.
CE, REACH, RoHS and other requirements depend on the product and market, but they need to be considered before the goods are on the water.
Most expensive sourcing mistakes begin much earlier than people think.
A vague specification. A sample everyone interpreted differently. Tooling approved too quickly. Two prices compared without checking what each one actually includes.
By the time those problems appear in the finished order, fixing them is usually much more expensive.
WHAT I ACTUALLY DO THERE
- Factory shortlist, first contact and a price comparison that is genuinely comparable
- Samples, revisions and a written standard for approval
- Tooling, terms and payment structures that protect your position
- Quality control before shipment, not after arrival
- Freight, customs, duties and documentation
- CE, REACH and RoHS compliance
- A second source in Vietnam when one country is not enough
FACTORY VISITS STILL MATTER
You can learn a great deal from an email, a quotation and a video call.
You learn something different when you walk through the factory.
You see what is actually being produced, how busy the lines are, what equipment is being used, how materials are stored and how quality is handled in practice.
More importantly, you meet the people responsible for the order.
Relationships do not replace specifications, contracts or quality control. But they make communication easier, and good communication matters when something changes during production.
That is one reason I still prefer to be on the ground when the order justifies it.
CHINA AND VIETNAM ARE NOT THE SAME
Vietnam has become an important part of the sourcing work as well.
I do not see it simply as a backup to China.
The supplier base is different. The cost structure is different. Lead times, capabilities and logistics can be different too.
For some products, China is still clearly the better choice.
For others, Vietnam can be extremely competitive.
And in some cases, having suppliers in both countries reduces risk and creates better options.
The point is not to move production from one country to another because it is fashionable.
The point is to understand where a particular product should be made.
CROSS-CULTURAL BUSINESS IS PART OF THE JOB
A lot of international business problems are not really technical problems.
They are differences in expectations.
What does "soon" mean?
What exactly was approved when the sample was signed off?
When does a supplier believe a change is included in the original price, and when do you believe it is extra?
How directly should a problem be raised?
When does someone say yes because the answer is genuinely yes, and when does it mean they will try?
After 13 years in Shanghai, I do not pretend that I understand every situation perfectly.
But I have spent enough time on both sides of the table to know that assuming everyone works the same way is usually a mistake.
Good sourcing needs clear specifications, but it also needs good communication.
GETTING THE PRODUCT MADE IS ONLY HALF THE JOB
International sourcing does not end when the container arrives.
The product still has to be presented, understood and sold.
That means product data, photography, translations, websites, e-commerce, content and the practical work of presenting a product properly in another market.
I have worked with that side of the business since 1998, through my own companies, client projects and now at SA Möbler.
Manufacturing and distribution belong together.
There is little value in getting the product right if the customer never discovers it.
SITUATIONS WHERE I AM USUALLY USEFUL
- A product that is made in Sweden today and could be made cheaper without losing quality
- An import project that has stalled at samples or quality
- A supplier relationship where the price keeps drifting upward
- A business that needs the same product from two countries
- A product that needs CE, REACH or RoHS documentation before it can be sold
- A first order where the decisions made now decide whether there is a second