Blog
5 Tips to Help You Work With Chinese Suppliers in 2020
As a result of the US-China trade war and the COVID-19 pandemic, many importers have either moved production away from China or are considering a move in the future. Other countries in Asia and some in Latin America have seen increased interest and export volumes as...
Chinese New Year 2021: Avoid Problems With Your Factory
Every year, the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday comes around and throws newer importers for a loop. At the time of writing this, it’s August and the holiday is still more than five months away. However, as many seasoned importers will tell you, it’s critical to start...
What is a Certificate of Conformity and How do You Get One?
When you are importing products from Asia, Latin America, or anywhere else, there are always regulations that you have to be concerned with. The types of regulations vary based on the product you are importing and the country of import. So, it’s important to do...
How to Use Inspection Data to Maximize Your Quality Spend
Do you conduct more than two dozen third-party inspections per year with each of your manufacturers? If so, you’re sitting on a gold mine of data that can help you manage your QC budget more effectively. How so? Every time you conduct an inspection, you get an...
What is a T/T Payment? How to Pay Suppliers in China
For new e-commerce sellers, sending that first payment to a Chinese supplier can be confusing. With all the different options available — Paypal, Alibaba Trade Assurance, LC payments, etc. — it can be hard to determine which one is appropriate for your situation. You...
5 Product Sourcing Mistakes: Download This Free Guide
Are you a new importer attempting to source your product in China, Southeast Asia, Latin America, or another low-cost region? Over the years, we’ve worked with many people who’ve had varying degrees of quality control and sourcing experience. And there are certain key...
Quality Control Plans: What Do You Need to Include?
If you’re managing product quality for a consumer brand, you know that selling good quality products is key to maintaining your company’s reputation. You need to guard that reputation carefully. Several years back, a furniture company had to recall 20,000 children’s...
Can You Inspect Multiple SKUs In a Single Lot to Cut Costs?
If you are working with a third-party inspection company (like Insight), you are undoubtedly paying by the “man-day.” That means that as you place larger orders, your costs will go up since it might take more man-days to complete an inspection. As an importer...
Packaging Quality Control: What Should be on Your Checklist?
If you don’t have good quality packaging for your products, you can be setting yourself up for failure — even if your products are well made. Imagine that you’ve put the time, money, and effort into ensuring that your products meet all quality and compliance...
Will There Really Be a “New Normal” for Supply Chains?
“You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my...
What Does MOQ Mean? Here’s What You Need to Know
If you’re getting started as an eCommerce seller and looking for manufacturers, you may have come across the term MOQ and been confused by it. What is MOQ? MOQ stands for “Minimum Order Quantity” and it’s the minimum number of pieces of a product that a supplier will...
Will the Coronavirus Crisis Change Trade Shows Forever?
Image Source: Collision ConfAs an importer, you may rely on trade shows and trade fairs to help you identify new product sources, keep up with industry trends, network with peers, or inspire fresh new ideas. If so, the global pandemic has probably hurt your ability to...
Shipping Marks: 5 Things You Need To Put On Your Cartons
When you are importing goods from overseas, it’s important that your cartons can be recognized at a glance, include instructions for proper handling, and provide the information needed to ensure correct delivery. This where shipping marks come in. According to...
Going From Product Design to Store Shelves (A Timeline)
Do you have a new product design that you want to manufacture and get onto store shelves by Christmas? That’s definitely realistic… If you’re talking about Christmas 2021. At Insight, we do a lot of sourcing in Asia and sometimes would-be importers will come to us...
Chinese Trading Companies: Are They Really That Bad?
If you’ve been going through the process of searching for new suppliers, you may have noticed at some point that not all of the companies you find online are factories. While browsing the Alibaba platform, for example, you may eventually find that there are also a lot...
Reshoring is a Move You Need to Think Through Very Carefully
An abandoned warehouse located in Loveland, Colorado. (Photo: Tara Evans) “This pandemic has underscored the vital importance of reshoring our supply chains and bringing them back into the United States, where they belong, where they should have never left.” –...
What You Need to Know About Reasonable Testing Programs
No one wants to import a product into the US and then find out that it has been deemed unsafe by the authorities—or worse—has actually injured someone. Imagine that you purchase an order of adult sweatshirts from a manufacturer in Cambodia and have them shipped to...
Restarting Production Soon? Don’t Expect It To Be Easy
The United States has been social distancing for weeks and much of the economy has been shut down, but now things are slowly starting to open up again. At the beginning of May, about half of the states have partially reopened and are allowing certain businesses like...