Thursday, February 9, 2012

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Is Chinese New Year that big of a deal?


I wish I had a dollar for every customer that asked me that question. Most Americans can’t begin to understand how big of a deal that the Chinese New Year is to Asia.  It’s just a holiday right?  Not at all, the whole country shuts down for about 2-3 weeks. The countries and territories that celebrate along with China include Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

·      Families pour out money for gifts, decorations and food.
·      Completely clean the house to get rid of any bad luck from the previous year.
·      Decorations fill the houses, windows and doors with popular sayings such as wealth, healthy, happy.
·      Firecrackers will light up the skies.
·      Children receive money in red paper envelopes wishing them wealth and a happy new year.
·      Niangao, the New Year cake that is like a pudding.

The official holiday lasts for 15 days, but it can take up to 3 weeks for a factory to get started back into production.  One of the main issues for factories is that their workers are from towns that are very far away from the factory. They will travel by bus, motorbike or anything they can find to get them to their hometown to celebrate with their family.  Even though the factory owner may tell the workers to come back on a certain day, they may come back days later, killing production times. It’s not easy for factory owners to find workers and so they have to let this slide to get their skilled workers back to work.

As an importer, we have to warn our customers of the impending black hole in the universe called “Chinese New Year”.  It’s just a time that you don’t want to be around when waiting on orders to complete or start. We try and get all of our orders in the factories in time to be finished a few weeks BEFORE CNY, so that we don’t run into any problems. If the customer wants their product right after CNY it will almost always be late. Key planning is the key for your importer to walk you through before the worst-case scenario.

With all that being said, it’s a wonderful holiday and wish all of you could enjoy this celebration even if it’s only in your local China town.  We could all use some good fortune from the economy that has drained many companies in the USA and abroad.


             Happy New Year from Bigfoot Imports

Saturday, August 21, 2010

"Made in the USA"

How can you support local manufacturing and still utilize the savings of sourcing overseas?

We all feel different emotions when we see a "made in USA" sticker or tag on a product that you are purchasing. Being the son of hard working American factory worker, I understand how important the jobs are to these men and women.
Many companies that we discuss the benefits of sourcing overseas, always are hesitant to take away jobs from fellow Americans. There are ways to utilize American made products and integrate products into your program from overseas as well. One key opportunity that we mention is that the product can be put into a package that is made in Asia and can save them up to 30%. So you can still proudly say that the product is made in the USA, and still save with the packaging from another country.

We would love to hear some of your ideas and success stories on your process of combining importing and domestic manufacturing. 

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Entrepreneurial Spirit at Work





Living in the USA, we often want to think sometimes that we rule the market on being an entrepreneur. After my recent trip to Asia, I was reminded that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well all over the world.

• Is being a successful entrepreneur creating your company and then selling it for millions or billions to Yahoo or Amazon?
• Is being a successful entrepreneur having your company going public?
• Is it having a full board of directors?
• Is it having a 45-page business plan that outlines your next five, ten and twenty years of the company’s future?

Or can a successful entrepreneur be making enough money to live well, have a good customer base, provide for your kids, keep a decent house and enjoy your life/business?

As my wife and business partner were walking the markets in Asia, I always enjoyed the small shops selling anything from fresh fish, corn, shish kabobs and coconut drinks. They had a full business plan in place: marketing, knowing their target market, advertising, negotiating for top margins and customer service.

Here are some of the highlights of their “small business”
1. They had their usual location every night.
2. Had just a one to four person staff with one leading the team.
3. They offered either a verbal or written menu.
4. They had an advertiser out trying to get people to come to their food establishment.
5. They had their pricing in place, with a little room for negotiation.
6. They had their tables set up and brought the product to you.
7. Reaffirmed the sale and followed up after we were done.

This is a great lesson for business owners who are looking for sourcing or importing. It’s a normal reaction to reach out for the largest companies to find a product or service overseas. The only glitch is that the largest companies also come with the largest payroll, property tax, overhead expense and large rolls of red tape to break through.

Contact us to learn ways to get around the largest and get to the best. http://www.bigfootimports.com

Monday, January 18, 2010

China bust? No Way


Well if there were any of you that were thinking that China is on a downward spiral; think again. The following article can be found in the New York Times.

China Becomes World’s No. 1 Exporter, Passing Germany

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Germany as the world’s top exporter after China’s December exports jumped 17.7 percent for their first increase in 14 months, data showed Sunday. Exports for the last month of 2009 were $130.7 billion, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

That raised total 2009 exports to $1.2 trillion, ahead of the 816 billion euros ($1.17 trillion) for Germany forecast by its foreign trade organization, BGA.

China’s new status is largely symbolic, but it reflects the ability of its resilient, low-cost manufacturers to keep selling abroad despite a slump in global consumer demand as a result of the financial crisis. December’s rebound was an “important turning point” for exporters, a customs agency economist, Huang Guohua, said on the government television network CCTV.

“We can say that China’s export enterprises have completely emerged from their all-time low in exports.”

Stronger foreign sales of Chinese goods could help to drive the country’s recovery after demand plunged in 2008, forcing thousands of factories to close and throwing millions of laborers out of work. Helped by a 4 trillion renminbi ($586 billion) stimulus package, China’s economic expansion accelerated to 8.9 percent for the third quarter of 2009.

The government says full-year growth should be 8.3 percent.

Economists and Germany’s national chamber of commerce said earlier that the country was likely to lose its longtime crown as top exporter. China is best known as a supplier of shoes, toys, furniture and other low-tech goods, while Germany exports machinery and other higher-value products.

China surpassed the United States as the biggest auto market in 2009 and is on track to replace Japan as the world’s second-largest economy soon.

China passed Germany as the third-largest economy in 2007.

Even though China overtook Germany as top exporter, the customs agency said total 2009 Chinese trade fell 13.9 percent from 2008.

China is going to be largest economic force in the future and I believe that the best option for American business' is to embrace this fact and utilize what the Chinese can do to help us all make more profit and reinvest it into American innovation that will allow us to be a powerhouse in all new areas in the future.


Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Cardboard Packaging = Big Savings



Buy my packaging overseas???


"I buy my cardboard packaging locally because it's not cost effective for me to get it overseas". We had this quote from a customer of ours that wanted to save money on their packaging but didn't think it could be accomplished. My partners and I at Bigfoot Imports starting sourcing in China to see if we could find a quality product and competitive pricing. As it turned out, we were able to find an excellent source for our customers cardboard packaging and save them 20-30% compared to their current prices.

Our customer was so excited that they wanted us to create a customized gift box that could be used for a Christmas promotion in retail stores. We were able to take their ideas and create exactly what she was envisioning.



So at this point, you might be wondering; "What would the process be for us to get quotes and have our packaging made"?

First- Provide us with the original artwork for the packaging. Usually an Adobe AI file is the best option, but sometimes a PDF or JPEG can work as well.

Second- Decide on your quantity for production. For any company to save money on having the packaging made overseas, you would need to order at least one 40' container. If you are looking less than that, then locally is still your best bet.

Third- We will have a sample made for you and ship it to you for your approval. If everything passes your quality test, then we will begin production.

Fourth- Production usually takes 20-30 days depending on the time of year. Starting in September through Christmas is always the busiest time for most manufacturers.

Fifth- Shipping to your door

Sixth- Be very happy with the excellent quality and savings that your company has just achieved by an alternate form of manufacturing.


Don't feel intimidated if you haven't had product made overseas yet, this is your opportunity to add significant margin to your sales by adding 20-30% of savings just on your packaging.

Please feel free to ask us any questions that you have about this process either through this blog or through our website at bigfootimports.com.