Smart Sourcing from China

1. Smart Sourcing from China Presenter : Tony Tao HM & Associates

2. Clothing & Textiles Industry – Global Prospective • Clothing and textiles represent about seven per cent of world exports. • China represents the largest share of world trade in this industry. • Character of Industry: growing in volume, dropping in unit price • Growth in volumes of polyester, volumes of natural fibre remain stable.

3. Key Products of Sourcing from China • Major Category of China Export Products • Clothing • Fabrics • Household textiles • Fashion accessories • Garment accessories • Footwear

4. Connection with China Manufacturing Company • Pre-sourcing: Sourcing Agent • You can engage sourcing agent in Australia or in China. • Services including: • consulting • Matchmaking • ordering • Logistics • Quality control • Settlement services • Fees: commission based, 2-10% of purchasing price

5. Connection with China Manufacturing Company • Pros & Cons of using sourcing agent • Pros: (i) easy to engage (ii) one stop solution (iii) certain degree of reliability • Cons: (i) Commission could be too high: reduce profit margin, increase business risk (ii) limited supplier options as sourcing agents will have their own preferred suppliers (iii) little awareness of Chinese market.

6. Connection with China Manufacturing Company • Selective Sourcing • Networking: talk to knowledgeable people who have successfully imported from China. • China Clothing and Textiles Expo • Pre-selected by CCCT • Reputable companies • Products ready for export • Willing to explore Australian market, have the HR capacities to do so. • Face to face meeting & understand the products without trip to China • Research - use public sources to identify the China exporter and preselect based on years in business, public reporting of revenue and employee sizes to create a prospect supplier's list. CCCT: China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles.

7. Connection with China Manufacturing Company • Non-selective Sourcing Method • develop a list based on the yellow pages, association directories, government sources etc. • Canton Fair (China Import & Export Fair): www.cantonfair.org.cn • East China Fair: www.ecf.gov.au • www.Alibaba.com

8. Selecting the Suppliers What you want • Ability to produce the quantity • On time delivery • Pricing • Quality What you don’t want • Loss your time, money, and the reputation with your customers • Go down the path in a complex international legal dispute. HOW ?

9. Selecting the Suppliers • Reference from past trades • Ask suppliers to provide you with most recent trading documents, for reference check. • Build up strong personal relationship with suppliers • Utilise the services from CCCT • no profit organisation • leading organization representing exporters and importers of textiles and clothing in China • membership of more than 12,000 companies across China • CCCT ‘s member representing more than 70% of China's import and export trade in textile and clothing. • Bridge between Chinese textile and clothing exporters and their counterparts in the rest of the world.

10. Selecting the Suppliers • Terms of Contract • Specify the following in your contract: • specifications • quantity • quality (i) Australia does not have its own quality standard, industry standard is applicable (ii) some buyers (Target) require ISO standard, such as ISO 9001 Certificate or specific ISO certificate (iii) Some buyers (Aldi) use OKTEX 100 standard, tested for harmful substances • price • delivery port and payment term • liability for breach of contract, and • dispute settlement.

11. Selecting the Suppliers • Terms of Contract • Check the business licence, the name of legal representative on the contract • Specify the arbitration clause and make sure to select at least one foreign arbitrator • The most popular business arbitration entity in China is the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC in English) • contract to be prepared in both English and Chinese and English language version governs in the event of a dispute. • Governing Law: Australian Jurisdiction preferred

12. Selecting the Suppliers • Pricing Method • CIF: Cost, Insurance & Freight, suitable for small & start up business. • FOB: Free On Board, suitable for large and experienced importers. • CNF: Cost & Freight, become very popular • Payment Terms • TT • Less cost • Fast • Suitable for repeated business

13. Selecting the Suppliers • Payment Terms • LC (Letter of Credit) • Relatively expensive • safe • For low margin supplier, they may be not willing to accept LC • Suitable for initial business engagement., followed by TT transactions.

14. Selecting the Suppliers • Risk Management • Build up strong personal relationship with suppliers • Guan Xi (Relationship): the most important Chinese business culture • Getting the Right “GuanXi “ makes all the difference in ensuring that business will be successful • Written commercial contract is secondary to “GuanXi” • Westerners build transactions and if successful, a relationship will ensure. • Chinese build a relationship and if successful, commercial transactions will follow. • “GuanXi” hard to form, but long lasting • Think “Guan Xi” in terms of bank deposit, more money you have, the more money the bank is prepared to lend you. Once you get your “Guan Xi” bank balance to a high level, your risk is reduced. • For if you are new to china, you can borrow “GuanXi” to make “GuanXi”.

15. Selecting the Suppliers • Risk Management • Build up strong personal relationship with suppliers • How to develop Guan Xi (Relationship) in China: • a network of relationships to support one another, “if you scratch my back, I will scratch yours” • need time to make friends and establish close relationship with others, such as suppliers, salesmen, shippers, officials, bankers) and people dear to their hearts. • this can be achieved by: (i) constant social interaction (ii) doing small or large favours (iii) small gifts (iv) fulfilling your early promises (v) building up a good, reliable reputation • Your goal is to build a network of people close to you, a phone call away that can help you when in need.

16. Selecting the Suppliers • Risk Management • QC (Quality Control) • Engage a trusted local person to oversee the productions, the estimated cost: ~RMB 5,000/m or commission based. • Make inspection by yourself: at least 1-2 times during the production stages and the final inspection before shipment. • Engage QC agent, such as SGS and CCIC. • Initial Deposit • Small initial deposit : 10 - 30%. • Refundable as per contract, but hard to enforce. • The final payment: before shipment, after the final inspection .

17. Case Study • Case Study - Quality • In 2006, our client engaged a suppliers in Henan province to supply premier quality beach towels. • the first inspection of packaging found that the supplier mixed premier quality with standard quality. As per contract, the supplier replaced it with all premier quality beach towels and agreed that our client can randomly unpack up to 10% of stock for 2nd inspection. • Our client did 2nd inspection 5 days before discharge of goods to the port, all ok. • On arrival, our client found the goods had been filled with standard quality beach towels. The supplier refused to accept the responsibility and cause a huge loss to our client.

18. Case Study • Lessons from Case Study • Engage the supplier without background checking • Should be alerted when the quality issue was detected in the first inspection. • Engage a trusted person to supervise the packaging process. • The final inspection should be conducted right before the goods leave the factory.