If you’re looking to import electronic equipment, Shenzhen is the place to go, as this is where most of the world’s electronics are manufactured and assembled. There is a good chance that the computer from which you are reading this article was manufactured in Shenzhen.
Shenzhen’s dominance in the field of electronics is so marked that if you search on Alibaba.com for an electronic product, in most cases you will only find suppliers who reside in Shenzhen.
Personally, I would not even consider a supplier of electronic equipment that does not have its base of operations in Shenzhen.
Although some large manufacturing companies such as Foxconn have begun to relocate their production to more inland provinces, it is likely that if you are reading this article you cannot afford to order the production volumes of Apple or Toshiba; you will therefore have to settle for a medium-small supplier.
Shenzhen’s strength is the ecosystem that has been created over the years: if your supplier needs a particular electronic component, a specific material, or even just a specialized assembler, you can be sure that they will find it in Shenzhen.
Finding a supplier who resides in Shenzhen will therefore result in reduced production time and transportation costs. In addition, manufacturing companies and wholesalers based in Shenzhen usually have far more experience than importers based in other cities, at least as far as electronics are concerned.
Suppliers in Shenzen
I can say from personal experience that the degree of reliability among Shenzhen suppliers can vary immensely. I’ve seen everything from assembly rooms that looked like a chicken coop to hyper-technological buildings that would be good for a sci-fi movie
All this is reflected in the product certificates. A few months ago I was helping a customer to buy Android smart phones and it ended up that, among the 45 suppliers selected at the start, only one had the CE certificates necessary to import electronic products into Europe. Remember that importing a product that does not have the right certificate is illegal.
The risks you run range from seizing the goods at customs to arresting, if you manage to avoid customs checks, you sell the goods and then it happens that one of these phones without certificates explodes in a customer’s face (yes, it has already happened).
Strategies to keep in mind
There are several strategies for distinguishing between a “good” and a “bad” supplier. Here are the most important ones to keep in mind:
- Take certificates into account. If a supplier can’t provide you with the necessary certificates to import the goods legally, I’d just waste time haggling over price or product specifications. Without certificates we cannot move forward. Point
- Consider registered share capital. It is in fact a rather reliable indicator of the size and turnover of the supplier’s company. In general, as far as electronics are concerned, I would never consider a supplier who has less than 500,000 RMB of registered capital (about 60,000 Euro)
- The third criterion to be taken into consideration concerns the quality management system, which is necessary to monitor the functionality of the product before, during and after production. Assembling electronic equipment is far from easy, and if you don’t use a quality management system, defects are likely to accumulate until you have an unusable end product
For a small or medium-sized import company, it may seem difficult to verify all this information. But keep in mind that a supplier who has all the certificates in order probably also has sufficient share capital and a fairly advanced quality management system.
Stay away from less prepared suppliers, even at the cost of spending a little more, and you will avoid a lot of headaches.
How to get to Shenzhen?
Personally, I never fly directly to Shenzhen unless I am already in China. If you’re coming from another country, it’s much easier to land at Hong Kong International Airport and then take a bus, subway, or taxi to the Chinese border. Keep in mind that, if you do not need a visa to stay in Hong Kong for less than ninety days, a visa is mandatory to arrive in Shenzhen and then enter China.
How to prepare for your trip to Shenzhen?
In Shenzhen, you will find yourself in front of an immense metropolis. So expect to spend an hour in a taxi (or metro) every time you visit a new supplier’s production line. I usually book a hotel room in the Bao’an district because this is where most of the suppliers reside.
Since taxis are rare in the suburbs, suppliers will have no problem sending you a car with a driver, even if they know you are coming from their competitor’s production line.
Although Shenzhen is the electronics capital of the world, few people can speak decent English. And discussing the features of your customized electronic product with an engineer whose knowledge of English does not go beyond “Hello” and “Thank you” represents a very high risk, especially with regard to misunderstandings.
So, unless you have a good level of Mandarin or Cantonese, I recommend that you find yourself an interpreter, possibly with good experience in technical English.
The pros of Shenzen
- This is the best place in the world for anyone who wants to import low-cost electronic equipment
- It is located very close to other major manufacturing centers such as Guangzhou, Foshan and Dongguan
- It is located a stone’s throw from Hong Kong, a place suitable for both business and a bit of tourism
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