A European entrepreneur reached out to us because they were interested in importing commercial pastry ovens for a bakery franchise that they operated. They needed large capacity commercial ovens for their franchise, and wanted our assistance only for shipping and customs clearance, as they had already found a supplier on AliExpress that had a product which met their needs.
They provided us with the information for the AliExpress supplier and asked us to help them negotiate pricing and arrange for shipping. With this information in hand, our China VP reached out to their contact.
However, after calling the contact, we realized that something was quite right with the AliExpress supplier. Our China VP decided to perform his own research and reached out to a Chinese associate who worked in the restaurant supply business in Guangzhou. We found out that the AliExpress “supplier” was not actually the OEM for the commercial ovens after all. Instead, they were a simple retailer that sold goods on AliExpress, with a significant markup! The actual OEM for these ovens did not have any English-language web presence.
With this discovery, we ended up reaching out to the actual OEM for these ovens. Our China VP took a trip to their factory and negotiated an order for six commercial ovens to be sent to our client. There was a 30% decrease in cost, because we were able to work directly with the manufacturer, without the markup from any middlemen.
This case study demonstrates how Telos China can perform a much better supplier search with our on-the-ground presence in China. And by negotiating directly with factory owners, we can obtain a much better price for our clients, improving margins for all.