Hey,
Glad to know you’re importing from China or you already have the plan to get started!
I’m Roger Zhong, co-founder of HUACI Sourcing. Today I would like to share four stories of mine so you know who I am and what HUACI SOURCING is all about:
Chapter 1 – Foreign Buyer in the Wholesale Market
I was born in the 80s in Guangzhou, probably the only city in China that has been a thriving trading hub for more than 2,000 years, thanks to the twice-yearly Guangzhou Import and Export Fair, better known as the Canton Fair, has helped the city cement its role as an important trade hub.
That’s was 2008, in my junior year of university. One day a friend of mine who works in a logistic company told me that they have an African client who needs help to explore the wholesale market in Guangzhou and see if I’m interested to show him around, I still remember I was more than interested to say yes.
This is how I met my first African friend – Kennedy from Kenya.
But what happened at the end really surprised me…
In that morning we start early to visit one of the clothing markets in Guangzhou, Kennedy was quite excited to see that much styles and happy with the prices, we had a fruitful day.
And because I still had classes back then, I couldn’t go with him for his whole trip in China. I know Kennedy had to place orders, and he doesn’t speak the language, but he can “talk with a calculator”.
“He will be fine.” I thought.
Two days later I got a call from Kennedy, “The prices are very high!” He said.
“The shop almost double the price!”
I was confused because we were writing down prices and item numbers, it could not be wrong. So I ask Kennedy to put the shop owner on the phone.
And I quickly realized what happened – the shop owner didn’t remember Kennedy had been there with me previously, and the “new prices” are actually their normal prices for foreigners.
Fortunately, in the end, we’ve managed to keep the good prices, but this was definitely a good lesson for Kennedy and me.
Chapter 2 – Large Manufacturer and Small Buyer
My first job was an overseas market sales rep in a famous manufacturer. How famous? Well, they sponsored the Olympic Games and other international sports events…
So there were several weeks in a year that I had to be in other countries to make sure the equipment we sponsored were working well.
And I was also the first one in our company suggested that we should join alibaba.com as a supplier, and this suggestion was soon approved by the leadership, I’m the one running this online shop.
We got lots of inquiries from alibaba.com after our shop first launched, and I was really excited about that because you can imagine if it doesn’t work? I’m the one who should be responsible for this investment.
But it doesn’t go as planned…
Since I had to do sales and also part of marketing as well as the sponsorship stuff in the company, I started to forward those inquiries from alibaba.com to my colleagues to follow up. They were all senior in the export department, who were following up customers from trade shows.
One day I asked them how is it going with those customers from alibaba.com, I was really surprised when they told me none of them had placed a single order!
Then I checked the communication history and figured out why – most of the Alibaba buyers were not as big as their trade show customers, and some of their inquiry quantity even lower than MOQ. So in most cases, my colleagues just sent out a price list with MOQ and didn’t even respond when the buyer seems to be small.
From the supplier’s angle it seems to be reasonable, 80/20 rule isn’t it?
But what is it like from a small buyers’ perspective?
Chapter 3 – Trading Company and Delayed Shipment
I decided to continue my career in a trading company after I’ve seen how large manufacturer deal with their small buyers.
My second employer was one of the well-known suppliers specializing in solar light, and they had an excellent standard on customer service – sales had to reply to customers’ email within 24 hours in any situation. The sales team was always working overtime however we did get a lot of orders.
But we had a rule among the sales team…
That’s we always had to claim we are the factory instead of a trading company.
And the worse part is…
For some orders, we already received a deposit from buyers, but the purchasing team still had not found the right factory for the needed product!
We were telling buyers 30 days production lead time, but it was definitely not enough if that’s the case.
Therefore you if you heard somebody’s phone keep ringing in the office and they were there but didn’t pick up, probably it’s from their clients asking about the delayed shipment.
And I remember one time, a huge hurricane hit south-east China and it had been reported on the global news as well. Guangzhou was actually safe but you know what, one of my colleagues took this chance to “solve” her shipment delay headache – She downloaded a picture of a destroyed factory and sent to our clients, and this was with the boss’s permission
Chapter 4 – Why is HUACI Sourcing Called HUACI Sourcing?
In 2014, the 6th year after I stepped into export and import business, I was thinking if it’s possible to start a company that helps buyers and make importing from China easier and safer.
And I got some missions for the company:
- It has to be startup friendly, there are already tons of company servicing the large players.
- It has to be transparent and honest. Yes is yes, no is no.
- And it has to be super easy for buyers, we should handle all the hassle with our expertise.
But we still need a name! A name that the whole world understands and have the same or similar pronunciation in different languages.
“The whole world is one family”
That’s the first concept in my mine for a business name.
So this is why HUACI SOURCING is HUACI Sourcing 🙂