Source out for the unique product of our choice. Request for the product catalogue from our supplier and discuss on the product pricing using the e-commerce platform provided.

Step 1: After finishing the registration process Alibaba official website will automatically log in your profile, it can be done manually by pressing the “Sign in” button and fill in the registered E-mail address and password.

Step 2:

After logging in our account, we will start to search for products that we are interested in which is a Bluetooth Speaker, so we search for Bluetooth Speaker in the searching column provided in the webpage, and we found out there were 1,190,081 types of speakers available in Alibaba.

Step 3:

After searching for that product, it shows us that there are various types of Bluetooth speakers with different suppliers. We had decided to choose the supplier which provides us the lowest price available. The product that we look into is the OEM LED light Bluetooth speaker with alarm clock system. It acts as a Bluetooth speaker and at the same time it can also be a table lamp, and an alarm clock; hence, making this product to be different and unique compared with others.

Step 4:

After we had decided to buy it from this supplier, we looked into the information page of the product. Firstly, we have to check for the previous customer’s feedback of the product and the customer service provided. After reading the product details and transaction assurance provided, we decided to contact the supplier of this product.

Step 5:

After that, we have to click on the “Contact Supplier” button to contact the supplier of this product that only has a private message between the supplier and us. We communicated with the supplier politely and the supplier treated us equally as well to reply our messages. 

We asked the supplier whether we could have a cheaper price if we purchase 50 pieces of their product. 

The supplier offered us a same product but without the alarm clock system to us where he can give us a cheaper price. However, when we ask could we have a cheaper price if we purchased 100 pieces of the product. The supplier told us that they could only get us the original price as they would only give discounts if we purchase 20,000 units from them as they would give extra discounts if they can buy parts for the product with the customers. We had also asked for the catalog for their company, and they politely asked us to refer to the website link given to us. The supplier also thanks us for being understanding for not giving any discount for that reason. 

Although this supplier had given us a price that is cheap and reasonable, we plan to search for other Bluetooth speakers with the exact figures but with a different design. We manage to find two suppliers that provide a similar product with the same figures but a different design.

We had selected the suppliers based on their number of year experience in conducting business in Alibaba, selling price per unit, and the respond rate of the respective suppliers. 

For the first alternative supplier (Yuyao Aggpo Electronic Technology Co. Ltd):

Since the previous supplier will only give discounts if we buy 2000 units, we would use this amount as a benchmark to ask for the cheapest price we can get if we purchase 2000 units for the respective suppliers.

The supplier is willing to provide us a price of USD8.8 for 2000 units instead of USD 12.00 for 2000 units of their product, and the supplier also provided us with the quotation/ catalog for their company products. The quotation from the company is stated as below:

Second alternative: Zhongshan Sunpe Technology Co. Ltd

For this supplier, they are willing to give us a price of USD 9.00 for 2000 units of their product, and the supplier also provided us with the quotation/ catalog for their company products. The quotation from the company is stated as below:

As a summary the quotation from different suppliers with the same product characteristics are as follow:

As a conclusion, we will choose to purchase from Yuyao Aggpo Electronic Technology Co. Ltd at a price of USD8.80 for 2000 units. We choose this supplier because this supplier can give us a cheaper price for 2000 units compared with other suppliers.