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What you need to know when shipping products from China to the US?
Sourcing products from China is a luxury and so easy to do if you are well equipped with the right tools. Yes, many products are made in China and the growing popularity to find products to add to your business is essential to business growth. But there are some things you need to be aware of before you just place, ship and purchase from Alibaba or anywhere in China. One of the most important business strategies to consider when sourcing and shipping products from China to the US is not only understanding the Chinese business culture but knowing when the Chinese holiday seasons are.
Why is no one answering my emails on Alibaba?
In China, the work culture is very different than from here in North America. Most manufacturer workers, in China, choose to live close to their workplaces for much of the year, then travel home for celebrations with family during the holidays. The distance from these factories to workers’ hometowns is typically long, even thousands of kilometers, and travel can often take several days by bus or train. Holiday festivals can last from several weeks to longer than a month. All these factors combine to create work stoppage in these factories, and the fun doesn’t end once the doors are reopened. Huge backlogs of orders will be waiting for these workers when they return…if they return, since some workers simply choose not to return to their jobs after the holidays. This is why you, will face major delays with your products when shipping products from China to the US during their holiday season. And the same goes for online businesses like Alibaba and AliExpress. Communication for many comes to a complete stop.
If you need to order more stock from China right now, you may already be out of luck. Chinese New Year is right NOW. Officially, that means major businesses, including factories in China and online, will be shut down for 7 calendar days or longer. Some workers have already begun traveling home early, and the Chinese transportation system will be clogged for weeks by workers’ returns after the holiday’s end. You can’t count on your supplier’s ability to fill an order or sample order right now. You may not even be able to get your contacts to return an email or a phone call. Frustration can easily set in if you let it, but it’s nothing personal: There’s just no one there to receive your communication.
Knowing The Chinese Holidays Will Save You Time, Money and Frustration
Listen to the video above
Gain Access To The Official Chinese Holiday Calendar 2020-2021
Hopefully, your stock will hold out until your supplier is back in business again. In the future, you need to be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to ordering. Make sure you anticipate delays in production and shipping by buying enough, and buying early. It might be scary to think about buying too much, too soon; running out of stock, however, would be much scarier. Your customers need product. If they can’t get it from you, they will get it from someone else.
With careful planning, you can minimize the impact the Chinese holiday season has on your private label business. We do it with our own products every year.
Save time! Find products and suppliers from China in 4 days?
We will be making our annual trip to the Canton Fair again this April. Join us, and we’ll show you live and in person everything you need to know about sourcing your perfect products in China.
