As an importer, finding a good and trusted supplier becomes a challenging task to do. When we talked about imports and where to buy goods, China is becoming the first country to appear in our minds. However, nowadays, Indonesia is a source country that we have to put into consideration. There are some reasons why; first, in Indonesia, there are so many good products at cheap price with good quality; second, Indonesia is the center of manufacturers specialized in various products. Whatever you are looking for, is here. After knowing these facts, then how to find a right, trusted, and high-quality supplier?

What should you do to start importing goods from Indonesia? Importing from overseas is never a simple task to do. At the very beginning yet the most important one, you have to find excellent factories that meet your standards in terms of product quality and organization management. Furthermore, after having found the best factory, you have to negotiate the price and take care of all the documents. Those tasks sound tiring and consume so many times and energy. But, there are always solutions to every problem. Having a sourcing agent that act and do all the job on behalf of your company is really time-energy-money saver.

Why you need a sourcing agent?

There are several reasons why you should hire a sourcing agent.

• Sourcing agent as your business partner.

You can imagine, Indonesia is a big country with thousands of islands. Looking for a high standard manufacturer who produces the high-standard quality product is similar to looking for a needle in a haystack. By hiring a sourcing agent, he will help you to find the best supplier of the products you want. He will absolutely be a savior for you.

• Sourcing agent as your spokesperson.

Hiring a sourcing agent means you have nothing to worry about. They live around your suppliers and they spoke the same language as your suppliers. This will save you from the communication and culture gap between you and your suppliers. And also your sourcing agent will act as your trusted middleman who will negotiate with the suppliers to get you the best prices.

• Sourcing agents will minimize your risk, and maximize your profit.

Having a professional sourcing agent on your side is really a great decision. You can minimize all the risks of importing goods and get the maximum profit. Why? It is because you don’t have to spend much money to travel to Indonesia just to check and monitor your productions. Let your sourcing agent do the job for taking care of all the documents and be your eyes during the manufacturing process. Furthermore, a sourcing agent can be your local representation and work closely with your company to research, find, negotiate and manage suppliers in Indonesia. They can also assist with market research, quality control, pre-shipment inspection, customs clearance, and supplier network development. The investment of hiring a sourcing agent will reduce your overall operating expenses to increase revenues.

• Sourcing agent as your eyes and ears.

Making sure your product has the best quality is really important. Most of the goods shipped from Indonesia are without quality control check from a third party or from customers themselves, although the quality control is usually implemented by factories. However, as an importer, you cannot rely 100% on the quality control implemented by the suppliers. Whether you receive good quality products or not mostly depends on the suppliers’ integrity. In this case, a sourcing agent can act as your eyes and ears and they can arrange quality check for every orders before shipment and confirm the conformity of your products.

• Enhanced security and safety.

Because doing business always comes with risks and benefits, it is very important to see the possible risks and know how to avoid them. Sourcing from overseas is not an easy job to do, many uncertainties could happen. For example, you have visited a supplier and the first impression to you is that they seem OK, but in fact, they are bad supplier, only do one-time business, or the supplier meets financial crisis at a time and could not produce your orders, or they send you substandard products, etc. What’s more, as your suppliers are on the other side of the planet, you cannot check on site regularly to see what’s going on.

This is where you can benefit from having a sourcing agent. A sourcing agent knows the ins and outs of the business in Indonesia, they can visit the suppliers regularly to see what’s going on and report to you immediately if there is anything that goes wrong. They can ensure you access trusted suppliers so that you get the conform products.

What will you benefit from sourcing agents?

So, if you are still wondering whether hiring a sourcing agent is a good decision to make or not. Here is the explanation of why it will become the best decision that you ever made:

• Sourcing agents knows more about the suppliers and can immediately spot scams.
• You don’t have to pay anything until you’re 100% sure of the supplier.
• Sourcing agents can source the best suppliers who produce high-quality products at a reasonable price.
• Sourcing agents speak the same language and knows the culture of the suppliers, which means there will be fewer communication barriers.
• Sourcing agents help anything for you regarding your order.
• You do not have to do any groundwork.

What’s the downside of using a sourcing agent?

• Professionalism – There are so many sourcing agents in Indonesia, sourcing all kind of products. As a client, you have to make sure that your local partner has the right expertise and have enough experience in finding the products you want.

• Transparency – Integrity is really important in doing business. A professional sourcing agent will report all the things to you, not only the price of your product and the details of it. As a client, you must be aware of who your supplier is and you have to know whether the price they offer is the initial price from this supplier or not. Because a non-transparent sourcing agent might add a little commission in it, or they may take a red envelope from suppliers, you don’t know.

• Responsibility – Sourcing agents being a third party, liaise between you and the suppliers since they work closely with suppliers, it’s important to know who they will defend if any mistake happens in the supplier management process.

Asean Sourcing is a sourcing agent and service company, unlike the other common sourcing agencies, we are the expert in the furniture and décor home industry in Indonesia, and we invest our time and knowledge to give and source high-quality products with the best price balance for you. If you are looking for a professional sourcing agent to assist you with your import business, Asean Sourcing is the right choice!