Many companies want to purchase their flexible retail packaging from Chinese suppliers but have no idea where to start or who to trust.  Packaging your product properly is of utmost importance as you cannot afford to have any negative element such as odor, vapor, moisture, or even UV rays ruin your chances on a retail store shelf.  We are grateful that our clients ask us for guidance and as a result we have put together this guide on tools we use on a regular basis in order to communicate effectively with our overseas suppliers. NOTE…many of the tools we use regularly in the US and North America are not, again, not available in China.  The Chinese government has come a long way in easing restrictions but there are still many sites and tools that are not available.

Skype:

When designing protective packaging with an overseas supplier you will need to communicate with them more than just sending emails back and forth.  Skype is an effective and dependable tool to discuss and design flexible retail packaging. Rarely is this service blocked by the Chinese government and if you have a decent internet connection you can carry on a good conversation.  The problem tends to be with the video service or video calls.  Often one side of the conversation has lousy internet and the call quality and/or video quality is terrible.  Recently Skype has come up with some paid service plans (versus their free options) and this has had fairly dependable results.

FTP Site-File Sharing:

Printed flexible retail packaging involves artwork design and the Chinese government doesn’t care about your artwork or my artwork or the size of the file.  They seem to be very restrictive of file sharing sites like Dropbox or Hightail and this can become a royal pain for trying to get an order done.  Consider having your own FTP site developed where you can provide your supplier of protective packaging access to see, view, download and upload files.

Instant Messaging:

For some reason many instant messaging services are restricted by Chinese authorities. It seems as if all of the main players in this space like Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft have instant messaging services but when trying to use them on a consistent basis the results have been sketchy.  Often when we are working on packaging your product we need to “ping” or contact our supplier for a quick question and having instant messaging versus sending and waiting for an email reply is preferred.  For us, GoogleTalk seems to work the best.

Banking:

Flexible retail packaging involves printing design, printing cylinders and ultimately printed stand up bags or barrier bags of some sort.  Along the way you will need to send money to your factory. Having a bank that has overseas banking relationships is critical.  Sure, everyone will say they can but in reality few do this on a regular basis. Wiring money to your supplier should NOT take hours, and many smaller banks require you to come into a branch personally and the fees to send a wire range from $45 to $100.  If you have a larger bank that is well versed in working with overseas wire transfers you can easily wire funds from your desktop without having to go to the bank for a lot less money per transaction.

Freight Forwarder:

Assuming you have designed and purchased protective packaging of some sort you’ll need to ship it here to the US.  You can have your Chinese supplier send the flexible retail packaging but without question this will be the most difficult and costly decision you will make.  There are so many fees and charges and unexpected expenses that it would be very wise to hire your own freight forwarder to ship on your behalf.  Packaging your product properly is hard enough, shipping it should not be as difficult.  Consider a freight forwarder who has your best interests in mind.

Paid Advisor-Parter:

Dealing with an overseas supplier is risky and can be a very expensive process with unexpected charges if not done properly.  There are many decisions to be made for printed flexible retail packaging or protective packaging of any kind and often having a packaging partner that has your best interests in mind is the wisest choice you can make.  For a minimal amount of money a partner can visit your factories and review samples before the order is finished to assure that your instructions were followed completely and if not make changes and inform you of different options.

BONUS:

Chinese companies have incredible manufacturing capability for flexible retail packaging and protective packaging in general.  When starting out many US companies feel they need to meet with these factories face-to-face and explain their dreams and vision with their Chinese representative.  The Chinese are very respectful and friendly people, they will nod and seem interested but for the record they just don’t care.  Nothing will impress your Chinese company or get them to take you seriously more than orders.  Place orders for flexible retail packaging and instantly they will listen to your demands.

Push for terms…Chinese companies are no different than domestic firms in that they want the big orders with massive volume of protective packaging but in reality we all know not every order will be huge.  With this in mind, an order, or orders of any quantity will vault you to being able to negotiate payment terms with the Chinese.  This doesn’t mean you’ll get exactly what you want when you want it, but you will have leverage to at least ask. 

CONCLUSION:

Chinese factories for printed flexible packaging have some of the most advanced equipment available in the world.  Many of them deal directly with their own customers from China and don’t export or have the ability to export.  Many have capabilities that cannot be matched or found in the US.  However with the right representation and knowledge of how they operate and how they communicate you can enjoy incredible quality at much lower costs than in the US.