Quoting from [Saquib]:
Hello everybody,
I just wanted to ask, other than price, what do buyers/buyer's agents/buying houses in the RMG industry look for in suppliers before awarding orders to them?
How important are social compliance issues? Labour conditions? Worker safety? Size of company? Equipment used? Number of years in business? Certifications? Etc, etc. If you were to rank the top 5 most important criteria that a buyer uses to select a supplier, what would they be?
Basically, I am designing a brochure for a new high-tech denim factory located in an Export Processing Zone in Chittagong, Bangladesh. This brochure is intended to create awareness of the company, and hopefully help bring in orders once the company starts production in Q1 2009.
Thanks in advance for your answers - Saquib
Dear Saquib,
According to me buyer in textile field looks for following things
1. Reliable company with clean and good production facitlity, the first look at the factory should give them a feeling of quality. (normally most factory i visited in Pakistan are dirty, unorganised, machines scattered and not arranged in line, not enough lighting, or direct sunlight falling on the work table. cut pieces and finished garments scattered all over.This doesnot give a quality look. The company should have a large show room, with production samples, raw material samples etc., for the buyer to choose from.
2. The price - not just cheap prices, once we place a large volume of orders to a factory in china because the factory was clean and cheap but later started the major head ache. the boss accepted even prices lover than my bosses target price and later placed the orders to more than 30 subcontractors, every one had a different quality standrad and product finishing. Cheap pricing means you should have good source of rawmaterial suppliers.
3. Know how- I find in china there are lot of factoriies who are so called "me to" factories. Meaning they too can just do the products in their field, but you bring up something new they dont have any idea of how it is doen or where they can source it. So know how of fabrics, dyeing, washing, other special finish is very important for garment trade.
4. Communication - The factory should be able to quote price and reply customers in a short pan of time, most people expect immediate reply. Many buyers complain, that sampling is very very slow. Fast sampling is a huge advantage in business.
5. Existing customer base - At last the existing customer base plays a important role too to certain buyers. Factory approved by other buyers project a good image on the company.
these are the things that makes a buyer give you the first order. Then later comes all the other things like honesty, fair busienss practice, etc.,
I hope you find this information useful
Regards,
Srini