Sofeast Knowledgebase Blog

Clients often approach us to help them to find another supplier due to the fact that their current supplier has hit them with an unexpected price rise either when they tried to reorder, or sometimes even during production. Sounds familiar? … Continue reading →

We are often asked how to improve price negotiation with Chinese suppliers in order to lower purchase costs. Indeed, negotiating a better price from suppliers helps cut costs and, therefore, increases your profits, so it’s a worthwhile activity.

We often face the situation where our clients’ orders are being delayed and the lead time is extended. So, how to reduce lead times from your Chinese suppliers? Read on for 6 tips.

What are some of the most common communication problems with Chinese suppliers that cause problems for our clients when they come to us for help?

A common problem that our clients come to us with here at Sofeast is the thorny topic of how to safely move plastic injection molds and tooling from one Chinese factory to another one if you’re changing suppliers. Keep reading … Continue reading →

What can importers do to avoid after sales quality problems that occur after a product has been shipped and is already on sale? Keep reading to understand what to do to mitigate or avoid these ‘long term quality issues’ in … Continue reading →

I had a good discussion with Bergson Wang, who has worked in the CSR (corporate social responsibility) departments of Adidas and Puma. There is one thing both of us believe: Using social compliance audits does not work if the goal is to … Continue reading →

I see some well-meaning importers who pay to audit factories based on a checklist inspired by the ISO9001 standard. However, I am really questioning the value of a factory audit on a small factory (below 400-600 workers). Here’s why…

Supplier self inspections, rather than sending in external quality inspectors, are becoming increasingly important for today’s buyers. In certain cases, it makes a lot of sense to stop sending employees to check if a supplier has done a good job. … Continue reading →

Understanding the cost of QC inspections in China Some importers get to talk about their project for some time, see where we would help them, and finally (almost as an afterthought) ask: “How much does a quality inspection in China … Continue reading →