5 Tips For Sourcing Products For Your Business | OneLink Holdings

November 10, 2022

Sourcing -

5 Tips For Sourcing Products For Your Business | OneLink Holdings

If you’re looking to start or grow a business or procure better for your established business, it’s important to know how to find and source the right products. Here are five tips that will help!

Sourcing products is a vital part of any business operation, big or small. The right products can make all the difference in terms of quality, cost, and availability. Here are five tips to help you source the products you need to grow your business:

1. Define your needs

Before you start sourcing products, it’s important to take a step back and assess what your business needs. What are your goals? What are your customers looking for? It’s important to consider your markets needs for the product; is there already a product on the market? If so, how can you make your product different? Answering these questions will help you define the criteria you’ll use to evaluate potential products.

2. Research your options

Once you know what you’re looking for, it’s time to start researching your options. There are a variety of ways to do this, including online research, talking to industry experts, and attending trade shows. Researching competitors also provides valuable intel on how their business is going, whether the products are selling and the cost to buyers. It’s important to explore all your options so that you can make an informed decision about which products are right for your business.

For E-Commerce brands there are a various websites available which will tell you what products are being advertised, the products which are getting a lot of traffic, sales data and even how to purchase these products from the factories. Ecomhunt.com is a great tool and even offers free packages.

3. Consider quality and cost

When you’re evaluating potential products, it’s important to consider both quality and cost. You want to make sure you’re getting good value for your money, but you also don’t want to sacrifice quality in the process. A great way to check for quality is to order sample products for the business. That way if you aren’t happy with the quality, you can swap manufacturers or make changes before being locked into production. The sample you approve should meet the same specifications and quality of full production. These samples can also then be used for pre sale marketing content to help you gain momentum before your stock arrives. Balancing these two factors is critical to successfully sourcing products for your business

4. Negotiate terms with suppliers

Once you’ve selected a product, it’s time to start negotiating terms with suppliers. This is where having a clear understanding of your needs will come in handy. You’ll need to determine things like price, minimum order quantity, and delivery timeline. It is important you have researched the current market conditions so that you know what pricing to expect and what other buyers might be paying for products that are similar. To negotiate better pricing you can ask your supplier to quote you based on an inflated quantity and also a smaller initial order quantity. An initial order quantity will allow you to test the market before committing to a large amount of stock.

Be sure to get everything in writing so that there are no surprises down the road.

5. Manage risk with contracts

Sourcing products always involves some degree of risk. To protect yourself, it’s important to have solid contracts in place with your suppliers that outline things like payment terms, liability, and dispute resolution procedures. A contract also gives you (the buyer) protection by allowing you to cancel an order or seek damages if the supplier doesn’t meet the obligations that have been set out in the contract. This will give you peace of mind knowing that you’re protected in the event something goes wrong.

Sourcing products is a vital part of any business operation, big or small. The right products can make all the difference in terms of quality, cost and availability. By following these five tips, you can be on your way souring the products that will help take your business to the next level.

Looking for someone to handle all the supply and production logistics? OneLink can help!

We have a proven track record of helping our clients source the best products at the most competitive prices. We’re meticulous in our research and only work with the most reputable suppliers.

So if you need help sourcing products for your business, get in touch with us today. We’ll be happy to discuss your needs and see how we can help.

Written By

One Link Holding team

With our experience it puts us in a very unique position in being able to take your business from idea to reality, or if you’re part of the way there we can help with a number of individual areas in your business.