ASD/AMD Show Logo
Here are tips to vette new suppliers, attract and sell to the right buyers, source and negotiate the best deals. Think of these How-To tips as your own GPS Guide to global product sourcing and navigating the most established wholesale Buy/Sell territory — ASD/AMD Trade Show, Las Vegas, March 2009.
Smart Buyers Do Homework
1. Check Industry References
Wholesale Industry web sites and directories offer forums for professional pulse checks. If you need to vette (verify) a potential new supplier/distributor … but you’re not sure whether it is a valid business operation or a Ponzi Scheme with mailbox address … check with your peers.
Forums: Registered users ask peers for insider info on a seller or supplier.
· Wholesale Forums – UK Discussion Group for Buyers/Sellers. Includes Supplier Discussion, where you can get advice, assistance, opinions on a new supplier, distributor or manufacturer; and Bad Supplier Experiences (formerly called Name & Shame), to warn other wholesalers away from rogue operations.
· WholesaleU Forums (The Good, The Bad & The Ugly) – Online peer input from Top Ten Wholesale network. The linked WholesaleU forum above covered Warning Signs: No fixed address landline number; No registered corporate number (Asian) or taxpayer identification number (U.S “EIN”); and sites to verify Chinese manufacturers.
2. Vetting Sources in a Global Economy
Sites to verify sellers in China: China Yellow Pages , China All, or branches of China’s Bureau of Industry and Commerce, which registers all legitimate companies with a Corporate Number. Check the general government site or through provincial government offices, such as Hunan Province.
Buyers and Sellers Deal Face-to-Face at ASD/AMD Trade Show
ASD/AMD Show Logo
Every insider guide to finding the right supplier for a chain buyer’s product sourcing needs (price point, discounts, shipping and credit terms), and every Tip Sheet to Sellers on Finding Pre-Qualified Buyers, always begin with Develop a Relationship. Familiarity breeds commerce (not, as the old saying goes, contempt). And the deep discount incentives or flexible payment plans that oil successful Buyer/Seller machinery are rooted in familiar sources and trusted brands. Relationships.
The best way to build trusted business relationships is up close, personal and face-to-face.
ASD/AMD Las Vegas , March 15 to 18, will put over 2,300 exhibitors/sellers from dozens of product categories (A for Apparel to W for Wedding and Western) face to face with thousands of pre-qualified, merchandise wholesalers and large chain buyers. ASD/AMD is a one-stop business-to-business marketplace – plus powerful order-writing, international product-sourcing venue. Face-to-face business opportunities to the power of 10.
3. Savvy Buyers Map Out an ASD/AMD Plan
Plan for Max Efficiency with Specialized Floor Sections. ASD/AMD marketplace is the place for Buyers to make best use of multiple product-sourcing opportunities:
· At the nation’s largest merchandise show (all product categories and price points) at the Variety Merchandise Show.
· Steps away from the largest gift show in the West (ASD/AMD’s Las Vegas Gift Show).
· Scan a unique collection of Traditional and Exclusive Fine Jewelry companies (over 350) in the Jewelry Show component.
· And once again, hang with the Military Tactical Outdoor Show, which sets up its outerwear, surplus and specialty merchandise tent in Las Vegas as part of the ASD/AMD show.
You need a navigation plan! Based on buyer/seller feedback, ASD/AMD Las Vegas created more Specialized Floor Sections … clustering product categories and exhibitor types together.
Avoid feeling overwhelmed with too much opportunity. Make a Floor Plan To-Do List from the Preview Guide sent to registered Buyers/Attendees; look for new Specialty Sections.
Use the Event Planner Widget. Besides thousands of sellers/exhibitors to Do Deals With and more than three trade shows (more below, under Seller Tips), buyers and sellers at ASD/AMD can attend workshops and seminars, as well as special events on- and off-site in Las Vegas. Maybe those four days – March 15 to 18, 2009 – are not enough time. Use the ASD/AMD Trade Show Planner. It’s an easy-to-use, time organizer widget available to registered Attendees.
4. Easy Exhibitor/Seller Research
Want to make the best use of energy spent on orders and price negotiations? Here are research sources you can access from the comfort of your own laptop, before going to the show:
· ASD/AMD Las Vegas Exhibitors: Go to the searchable pages of Exhibitors at ASD/AMD , scan the search list of over 100 product categories and, to date, 2340 exhibitors across all three component shows. You’ll get web site addresses, clickable links and some clickable display ads on exhibitors of interest at ASD/AMD.
A little online research, before hitting the trade show floor, can go a long way to answering policy questions: Are there Minimum Lot Sizes? Do they Dropship? What business references do they demand for Net 7 or 15 or 30-day payments? How quick and responsive is the Sales/Customer Support staff? Is Merchandise Returns Policy business-like? Easy to document and claim? Looks like a time-consuming nightmare?
· Cross-Check with Top Vertical Search Engine Industry Directories: You can find good Product Trends and General Sales Data from general consumer-focused search engines like Google and Yahoo! But to find quality buyer and seller prospects, you need to drill down into specialized wholesale industry databases. Industry (or Vertical) search sites and product directories are managed by manufacturing, import, wholesale and retail industry professionals. They scrub out the off-target, misdirected and unqualified listings.
For company directories and data from the manufacturing end of the supply chain, try Manufacturer.com .
For listings of Wholesale Distributors who offer direct buy-sell opportunities see TopTenWholesale and the searchable directory at Wholezilla.
To research wholesalers who specialize in liquidations, closeouts and overstocks, see Discount Wholesalers.
5. Wholesale Sellers Go Public
With over 2,000 other exhibitors … writing orders in dozens of apparel, jewelry, outdoor and gift merchandise categories … across three simultaneous ASD/AMD shows, sellers who want to connect with the right buyers need all the exposure and show publicity they can get.
· Go Live From The Show Floor: Nielsen Business Media, managers of ASD/AMD, offers interactive streaming video interviews of exhibitors/sellers on the trade show floor as they demonstrate their products and services. This video seller exhibit is available online, any time, anywhere, even after ASD/AMD ends. See Live From the Show .
· Meet International Manufacturers Without a Passport: Another show component of ASD/AMD Las Vegas is SourceDirect – face-to-face meet-ups between wholesalers, distributors, large retailers and 200 worldwide manufacturing sources. You can meet directly with global manufacturers – without flying further than Las Vegas, Nevada – and query them about exporting, engineering, materials and market exclusive manufacturing.
· China Brands and Sellers Meet at ASD/AMD: Besides being among the international manufacturers available through SourceDirect (above), China also features at ASD/AMD’s China Brand Show. This is an opportunity for wholesalers and distributors to meet the company reps who manage China’s latest, proprietary branded merchandise. China Brand Show offers access to popular Chinese brands, and a face-to-face opportunity to develop wholesale international relationships … without traveling to the source.
· Sellers Get In Front of Buyers 24/7, Any Time, Anywhere: The ASD/AMD SourceBook gets wholesale sellers in all product categories in front of thousands of wholesale buyers … regardless of “what happened in Las Vegas” and whether or not it “stayed in Vegas.”
SourceBook is ASD/AMD’s online supplier directory, available 24/7 to wholesale buyers. A simple tool lets you upload (import) product descriptions, prices and images into the SourceBook. Free to suppliers/sellers with registration. See ASD/AMD SourceBook to sign up.
Another free wholesale seller directory available 24/7 is Wholezilla from the TopTenWholesale network.