How to search for suppliers/vendors/ distributors in the international market?

Written by Muhammad Salman Farooq

There are certainly many ways to expose your business to a pool of a vast number of suppliers and distributors. Below are some of the possibly most approachable or feasible ways to search for a suitable supplier for your need in general.

Trade Shows / Exhibitions: When unsure or starting from the very beginning, this seems more often as an option to expose one’s business to the market representation of people attending shows or exhibitions, because these expose you to more suppliers, distributors, and even customers. All you have to do is to choose carefully the type of trade show or exhibition you want to display your business or product to because it should highly relate to it otherwise it’s of no use to search for vendors that bring no significant value to your business. Example: If your business is about any FMCG brand, one may look for international exhibitions like Gulf-food-Exhibition that is hosted in Dubai each year connecting you to almost all suppliers from 40-60 countries related to ingredients, processing, packaging, and distribution.

Online Reliable Sources: A few trusted online trading platforms such as Amazon, Ali Baba or tdctrade.com, also help you build a network of suppliers, and manufacturers around your business as soon as you start a conversation with them. Other than that there are online trading directories available for easier search of your desired suppliers in respective domains.

Contacting local agents: Many international suppliers have their agents that one may contact before actually making a move to meet the owner or concerned designation of that party. These local agents can highly assist one to share with you their company’s capabilities, specialties, and extra services that can add value to your business.

These were just some of the ways to approach or come in contact with a potential supplier; however, businesses need to locate a suitable supplier out of many. So the criteria or the selection process should follow the following possible steps that will ensure, and minimize the risks regarding appropriate vendor selection.

• Do they meet your anticipated standards of packaging, quality, price, and distribution?
• Research regarding their goodwill reputation in the market.
• Research their company from top to down i.e. from production to retailing.
• Communication barriers such as languages.
• Payment terms, and procedures that include credit terms, and liaison with concerned banks.
• Logistical procedures such as shipment process.
• Legal jurisdiction regarding insurance, defects, and who will be liable to pay for them at each stage of the process, demurrage charges (in case the ship loader fails to load or discharge the shipment in due time).