Steel and furniture trader relies on e-commerce for success

Member: Mr. Wei
Company:  Tianjin Sincere Import and Export Limited Company


Country: [China]
Industry: Furniture&Furnishings
Products: steel pipe, steel tubes of different types, galvanized pipe, steel bar, steel flat, dining set, steel deformed bars, office furniture

We are mainly engaged in steel and furniture and have been engaged in international trade since the company’s establishment in 2007. Domestic competition is too fierce for the furniture industry, and the orders are too little. Although the competition when doing business with foreigners is just as fierce, product demand in the overseas markets is so large that exporting can be a viable route for business.

I chose to do online business, after comparing the costs with the high price of booths at trade fairs. First of all, it has a favorable price and good service provided by customer commissioners. Second, it adapts well to the international situation. It provides a convenient way for buyers to view the products, and at the same time it is a way of adding new customers and selecting out low-quality buyers. After careful consideration, our company joined the Chinese suppliers of Alibaba.com. During the first month of online trading, our company received no orders. I told my staff calmly “Try your best to catch the order, but never give up”. All the staff were doing good work distributing product photos, updating product information and carefully answering inquiries. Finally, the company had a number of orders in just a few months, which greatly encouraged the staff!

In my opinion, the concept of online trade has just begun. Compared to trade fairs, online business needs more effort to communicate with our customers so as to explain the details of our company completely. Otherwise it’s difficult to leave a deep impression among highly competitive furniture companies in such a virtual world. Although more and more factories are directly involved in international trade, a professional trading company still has the advantage.

In fact, many foreign customers don’t like to deal directly with several factories when they purchase a variety of products .They prefer to order through one foreign trade company. In addition, the trading company can provide professional services and help with operational processes, which can help buyers save time and effort. In order to meet the demand of small and medium sized online buyers, we launched the MOQ for online customers. We also have strict controls for product quality - samples must go through tests of our own before sending and we will also conduct random checks on behalf of our clients to discover any problems in a timely manner before the goods leave the factory.

We do our export business relying on Alibaba.com completely and the business is very busy now. We will continue to do online business because of the broader trade platform.