How Leather Bag Companies Can Import in Bulk from China Without Breaking the Bank

Are you just starting your own leather company but worried about the high cost involved in bulk importing from China? No worries! We have an excellent solution for your business.

However, importing from China is relatively cheaper than importing from any other country today. Thanks to China’s strong business structure. But when you are about to order in bulk, you need a really big amount. For that, you want to think twice before going for it.

But using effective strategies such as choosing the right material, requesting samples, placing an order early, etc can help you import leather bags without breaking the bank.

This article will inform you about the right strategies that can help you save not only your money but also your valuable time.

Let’s start without further a do.

Strategy 1: Select the Right Material to Save Costs

Leather is not any ordinary material, since it comes from animal hide, it surely is a bit expensive.  Moreover, it includes labor costs and utilization of machinery which results in increased pricing of leather goods. So, it is important to choose the right material for your leather company that can save you some money on your hand.

It is important to keep in mind your goal is to reduce the cost, not the quality. So, don’t compromise on the quality, choose the right type of leather that is of high quality and negotiate on its price with the supplier.

To know which is the high-quality leather, you must first understand about the different types of leather:

If you are going to make designer bags for your brand, you must use Top-grain leather which is less expensive than Full-grain leather but of high quality. But if you want to make nags for retailers and wholesalers, you can also use cow-hide leather.

Talk about the type of leather you want to use with your supplier and come up with the most suitable type of leather. Once you have finalized the type of leather you want to use, negotiate the pricing with your supplier to get the most cost-effective quote.

Strategy 2: Request Samples from Suppliers to Find the Best Value

Samples play a huge role in the sourcing process, especially when you are dealing with a Chinese supplier. Product samples help the buyers inspect the quality and functionality of your product before committing to the bulk order.

Tips to request samples and negotiate on sample prices

• Start by selecting a few reliable suppliers and contacting them.
• When you contact them, be specific and as clear as possible about your product. Tell them in detail about the type of product you are interested in and ask for the samples.
• When you start asking for samples, make sure to start with the free sample. Ask if they can provide you with a free sample of the product. If they don’t agree on this, ask for the minimum price they will charge very smartly.
• Ask your suppliers to offer bulk discounts to you. If it seems like they do not agree on it, explain the benefits of giving you discounts such as repeat orders, long-term relationships, and increased sales volume.
• While conveying about the product, don’t forget to add that you are interested in placing a bulk order and sound super professional so that your supplier knows you want to buy it. This is how you can win their trust and they will eventually be ready to agree on the negotiated price.
• After getting sample pricing from different suppliers, compare the price difference among them to know which one is offering the best price. Go with that supplier.

Strategy 3: Choose the Right Packaging Based on Your Brand

Packaging is also an essential factor when it comes to pricing as well as your brand image.

How Packaging Affects Brand Image?

The right packing of your product can act as a great marketing tool for your brand. If the packaging is good, your customers will be happy and they will be more likely to order from you again. Faulty packaging can damage your product and produce a negative impact on your customer.

How does Packaging Affect Cost?

The most important thing to consider while deciding on the packaging of your product is its durability. As we are talking about the leather bag, you won’t need packaging for a fragile item.  Instead, the standard packaging for these bags is more than enough for them.

Keep in mind to keep your packaging cost to less than 2% of your product cost, not more than this.

So, the right packaging here means a packing that has both the traits, it is branded and cost-effective. Make sure to convey all your branding on the packaging beforehand to avoid any extra costs. Decide the total cost, including the packaging cost and branding with your supplier.

A high quality packaging can surely increase the brand image but it will also be costly. So, your goal must be to find a supplier that offers a balance between both price and quality.

 Strategy 4: Secure Long-Term Contracts for Better Pricing

When you start negotiating with the supplier, convey to them that you are looking for long-term relationships. There are many benefits of long-term contracts from building a strong supply chain to cost efficiency. Here is how a long-term contract can help you get the better price you want:

• Long-term contracts allow your suppliers to offer you better pricing along with discount offers and other special conditions as they are under the contract of producing continuous volume.
• Over time both the parties, the supplier and the buyer adapt to each other and their business process enhancing operational efficiencies and reducing the cost.
• Long-term relationships also help optimize the supply chain and reduce waste, further reducing overall costs.
• By making long-term contracts you can reduce the per-unit cost which makes the overall cost less expensive.

Strategy 5: Place Orders Early and Choose Sea Freight to Lower Costs

One more strategy to reduce the overall pricing of your bulk order is by ordering early. This will help reduce the holiday stress. Your delivery time may coincide with the holidays at your supplier’s end. So, if you plan and tell them they have enough time to prepare the inventory, this will not only improve their relationship with you but also this can end up in winning some extra discount.

Moreover, it is also possible that your supplier has a discount policy for the orders that are placed early. Generally ordering early is a perfect decision at your end too other than getting a better price, it will help you align other business operations accordingly.

Choose Sea Freight for bulk orders.

When it comes to shipment methods, there are several options to choose from, you can use air freight, express delivery, or sea freight.

For bulk orders, the most suitable method is via sea. Other reasons to choose sea freight include:

• One benefit of using sea freight is that it offers the minimum restrictions in terms of size, weight, and volume as well as customs clearance and further taxes.
• Shipping routes extend to almost all the parts of the world which makes it a favorable option to reach the global markets.
• The main reason to use sea freight is the cost-effectiveness. The cargo ships are huge and they carry multiple cargo containers at a time which results in significant cost reduction.

Strategy 6: Direct Bank Payments to Save on Third-Party Platform Fees

Since you will be working with a large transaction amount, any payment failure can result in significant revenue loss. It is really important to choose the right payment methods.

When you are dealing with international transactions, there are several payment methods to choose from for Chinese suppliers. You can use 3^rd party money transfer apps such as Alipay, PayPal, Letter of Credit, direct bank transfer, etc. But for bulk orders, the most appropriate payment method is direct bank transfer.

The biggest advantage of using a direct bank transfer is that it is accepted by almost all the Chinese suppliers and it is cost-effective. A lot of international 3^rd party apps like Alipay or PayPal charge you fixed international transaction fees along with some other fees such as Alipay charges a 3% transaction amount fee for any transaction.

These extra charges increase the overall cost price of your product which is not good for you. Therefore, going for a direct bank transfer will help you avoid these extra transaction fees resulting in a reduction in the pricing.

When you are going for a direct bank transfer, make sure to include L/C (Letter of Credit) which guarantees full payment to the supplier when your shipment reaches the destination safely. This will help in adding an extra layer of protection since you are dealing with a large amount.

Strategy 7: Request Marketing Materials from Suppliers

Do you know that you can also ask your suppliers for marketing materials? With marketing materials we mean the videos, posters, or images of your product. But please don’t say you will be using them for marketing instead say you want to inspect the quality of the product via them.

You can request your supplier to provide you with clear images and videos of your product. Or you can ask the 3^rd party production inspection company to take images and videos of the process of making the bags.

These marketing materials will help you save the extra amount you will be using on the marketing of your new product. This is the perfect and smart way to market your product free of any cost.

Conclusion

If you are thinking about importing in bulk from China, you need to work carefully on your budget. It would not be a smaller amount that you are going to invest.

So, you need to implement several strategies to make sure you are not breaking the bank. In this article, we have discussed 7 strategies that help you reduce the overall cost of your product. These strategies will only work if you have a reliable Chinese bag supplier.

If you want a supplier who is experienced in the bag industry, and offers bulk order delivery, customization, and flexible terms and conditions of the contract, you should consider Mherder. They have been in the bag industry for almost 2 decades producing high-quality leather bags at affordable prices.