Finding a supplier in China by Taxi/ Train/On Foot
When I first started visiting China as an importer, I already knew my way around Taipei in Taiwan because I had for some years been exporting to Taiwan where my biggest customer was.
They introduced me to many businessmen, mostly "cousins" and from those introductions I eventually set up as an importer in 1987. The problem was that most of the cousins could not satisfy my product requirements so I had to look elsewhere.
I knew how to make contact with potential suppliers, and I made a point of visiting them as part of my due diligence. One of the reasons was that I wanted to deal only with manufacturers, so I needed to visit their premises. This is where the fun began.
Unlike India or Pakistan, the addresses of people and businesses in China (and Taiwan) are set out in a very orderly fashion. On one visit I had to find two potential suppliers whose addresses did not sound auspicious. They went something like this: No. 75, Alley 16, Lane 23, Nanking East Road.
The two could not have been more different. Chalk and Cheese! The first I found after a hair raising taxi ride which stopped in the lane, unable to reach the alley, because of heaps of cartons bicycles, motor scooters etc., clogging access. Eventually on foot I found the alley, then the premises.
In the usual fashion I was treated to tiny cups of Jasmine scented green tea, but there was so little room that even the sofa where guests should be received had to be cleared for sufficient space to sit down. The staff of 3 were continually interrupted by the telephone, and it did not take me long to decide that this was simply a wholesaler, or reseller, or agent, who knew little about the product type I sought although they had advertised it.
The second one was not very far away so I walked and was amazed to find in their alley a gleaming showroom, with well set up offices, and the light manufacturing process being carried out in immaculate premises upstairs. I dealt with that manufacturer for about 4 years until my business began to leave that product line.
This is getting long winded so I may leave for another post the best way I found to get around in Hong Kong and mainland China.
They introduced me to many businessmen, mostly "cousins" and from those introductions I eventually set up as an importer in 1987. The problem was that most of the cousins could not satisfy my product requirements so I had to look elsewhere.
I knew how to make contact with potential suppliers, and I made a point of visiting them as part of my due diligence. One of the reasons was that I wanted to deal only with manufacturers, so I needed to visit their premises. This is where the fun began.
Unlike India or Pakistan, the addresses of people and businesses in China (and Taiwan) are set out in a very orderly fashion. On one visit I had to find two potential suppliers whose addresses did not sound auspicious. They went something like this: No. 75, Alley 16, Lane 23, Nanking East Road.
The two could not have been more different. Chalk and Cheese! The first I found after a hair raising taxi ride which stopped in the lane, unable to reach the alley, because of heaps of cartons bicycles, motor scooters etc., clogging access. Eventually on foot I found the alley, then the premises.
In the usual fashion I was treated to tiny cups of Jasmine scented green tea, but there was so little room that even the sofa where guests should be received had to be cleared for sufficient space to sit down. The staff of 3 were continually interrupted by the telephone, and it did not take me long to decide that this was simply a wholesaler, or reseller, or agent, who knew little about the product type I sought although they had advertised it.
The second one was not very far away so I walked and was amazed to find in their alley a gleaming showroom, with well set up offices, and the light manufacturing process being carried out in immaculate premises upstairs. I dealt with that manufacturer for about 4 years until my business began to leave that product line.
This is getting long winded so I may leave for another post the best way I found to get around in Hong Kong and mainland China.
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