How to find right eyewear manufacturers in China? (II)
Part 2: Channels to find China Eyewear Supplier or Manufacturer
Certainly, it’s far from to find a good supplier even after you have very comprehensive background knowledge of where they located in China. You also need from where you can find them.
Commonly speaking, you can find proper eyewear supplier or manufacturer from offline and online channels.
Before COVID-19 pandemic situation, offline is the most important and efficient place to find good suppliers and start to contact with them, especially in many kinds of professional eyewear trade fairs. During some international famous fairs, most of China strong and competitive suppliers will attend the fair. Commonly they will be in one same hall with different size booths. It’s easy for you to overview these suppliers coming from different manufacturing centers of China in only two or three days, which save much time and money for your survey. Furthermore, you can tell which one maybe good for you from set up and outlook of the booth, displayed product, short conversation with their representatives etc. Normally their bosses or general managers will attend the fair. You can know more about them after deep and comprehensive communication.
However, during previous global pandemic, people can’t have business trip freely more or less. Then online channels became more and more important for both sides.
This part mainly introduces both offline and online channels for your reference.
Offline channels
Tradeshows
Arguably the most efficient way to find an eyewear manufacturer in China is to attend an eyewear trade show. Google the shows beforehand and be sure to look for shows that have factories exhibiting, as not all have manufacturing sections present. Some good trade shows are:
-International trade show
- MIDO – Milano Eyewear Show
The internationally renowned trade fair for the optical, eyewear and ophthalmology industry, attracts people from all over the world, as it groups all major companies of the international eyewear industry.
Visiting MIDO is a first-hand discovery of the world of optics, optometry and ophthalmology in the most complete, diversified and fascinating way possible. All the big names in the sector meet in Milan to present a preview of their products, new lines and the most important new additions that will characterize the market of the future. Most famous China suppliers will exhibit in hall of Asia.
- SILMO – SILMO Parris show
Silmo is the leading trade fair for optics and eyewear, with novel and original show to present the world of optics and eyewear from a different angle. The organizer's idea is to constantly track both stylistic and technological developments, as well as medical ones (seeing clearly being vital!), in the optics and eyewear sector as closely as possible. And in order to really get inside the world of the optician, Silmo has created amazing presentations and informative areas covering the most relevant topics of the day.
- VISION EXPO
Vision Expo is the complete event in USA for ophthalmic professionals, where eyecare meets eyewear and education, fashion and innovation mingle. There are two shows which East is held at New York and West is held in Las Vegas.
-Local trade show
- SIOF – China (Shanghai) International Optics Fair
Official optical trade exhibition in China and one of the largest optical exhibitions in Asia that showcases most of the international brands and products.
SIOF takes place in the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center.
- WOF – Wenzhou Optics Fair
As one of the International Optics Trading Fair, Wenzhou Optics Fair will showcase sunglasses, lens & optical blanks, glasses frames, glasses cases & accessories, lenses manufacturing & processing machinerie, and so on.
You can meet all kinds of sunglasses brands and manufacturers when you come to Wenzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center in May.
- CIOF – China International Optics Fair
China International Optics Fair takes place at China International Exhibition Centre (CIEC) in Beijing. You can find sunglasses, sunglasses lens, sun clips, spectacle frames, and so on in this trade fair.
Hong Kong International Optical Fair is most international show in China and presents an incomparable trade platform that puts exhibitor in the prime position to connect with global buyers. It will display products like Optometric Instruments, Equipment & Machinery, Reading Glasses, Shop Fittings & Equipment for Optical Industry, Binoculars & Magnifiers, Diagnostic Instruments, Eyewear Accessories, Lenses Cleaner and much more.
Business trip：
If you are good at itinerary and hope to do more actual, deeply exploration of the potential supplier or factory, a successful business trip to China is very helpful. It’s very convenient to travel in China as there are extensive high-speed rail network all over the country. Certainly you can also travel by air. During the trip, you can understand the factory much better as you can see the materials, facility, workers, management of factory by yourselves. It’s the best way to collect enough real first hand information by your own site investigation.
Online channels
Searching engine website
People have been used to search any information they need to know from engine website as it’s easy and fast, like google, bing, sohu and so on. So you can also input key words like “China eyewear supplier”, “China eyeglasses manufacturer” etc. in the search box to look for their homepages or related information. As internet technologies has been developed very long time, you can find much different useful information of the supplier. For example, you can find all-sided information of JM OPTICAL in there official website www.shjmoptical.com
B2B Platform
It’s like a huge online B2B shopping mall for both buyer and supplier on B2B plat form.
- Global Sources - Founded in 1971, Global Sources is an experienced multi-channel B2B foreign-trade-website that operates its business through online trade shows, exhibitions, business publications and advisory reports based on the industry-sales. The company focuses mainly on electronics and gifts industries. Their core business is to promote import and export trade through a series of media, where 40% of their profits come from print/e- magazine advertising and the remaining 60% from the online trading. The wide platform of Global Sources includes many major websites related to product industry, regional export, technology, management etc.
- Alibaba – Undoubtedly, the market leader to start our list is Alibaba.com. Founded in 1999, Alibaba has set a distinct standard for B2B websites. Notably, in a very short span of time, the company has grown exponentially and has made it super difficult for any of its competitors to catch and defeat its growth map. A well-deserved No 1 B2B website, Alibaba has more than 8 million registered members in over 220 countries and regions around the world. Talk about the facts, the company was listed in Hong Kong in November 2007. With the net worth of $25 billion in initial stage, now it is known as China’s largest internet company. Also, it was the first market player to rise the free model, allowing its members to pay in large quantities.
Alibaba has a stronghold in its business and deems about its sellers pretty seriously. In order to enhance the promotional effect of its sellers (supplier members), the company cooperates with large and influential players of the industry, such as Global Top 1000 and China Top 500, to make their purchases through its platform. This guide and screens Chinese suppliers to actively participate in purchasing activities and build their market globally.
- Made in China - Headquartered in Nanjing, Made-in-China was established in the year 1998. Their main profit model includes- membership fees, advertising & search engine ranking costs for providing value-added services, and certification fees which they charge to provide certifications to the suppliers. According to third-party authoritative sources, Made in China website has nearly 10 million page views per day, out of which the major 84% chunk comes from international stations, which have tremendous export trade opportunities in these views. Although Made in China is not as much popular as other domestic giants like Alibaba and Global Sources, it has a certain influence on overseas buyers. To note, for the overseas promotion, Made in China participates through Google and other search engines to establish its hold.
SNS Media
It’s like a huge online B2B shopping mall for both buyer and supplier in these B2B plat form.
-International SNS Media
- Linked-in- Did you know that LinkedIn was launched in 2003 and is the oldest social networking platform still majorly used today? With 722 million users, it isn’t the largest social network, but it is the most trusted. 73% of LinkedIn users agreed that the platform protects their data and privacy. LinkedIn’s professional focus makes it the best opportunity for reaching decision makers for both networking and sharing content. In fact, 97% of B2B marketersuse LinkedIn for content marketing, and it ranks #1 among all social networks for content distribution. Using the platform is a great way to get involved in conversations with industry leaders and buyers that are looking for recommendations on products and services. You can see what happened in JM OPTICAL in the linked-in page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jmoptical
and https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-zhang-56b213160/
- Instgram- Instagram is another top option for B2B marketers. Over 200 million people on Instagramvisit at least one business page each day. For Instagram, each company will use their most visually appealing content. High quality photos, interesting infographics, and video perform best on the site. You can see many interesting and creative information of eyewear partner. This is a great platform to feature all of the creative work that each B2B eyeglasses owner have. You will be surprised to see lots of wonderful ideas in JM OPTICAL ins page: https://www.instagram.com/jmoptical2000/
(To be continued…)
Reference：
https://www.pel-eyewear.com/eyewear-testing-and-inspection-blog/best-eyewear-manufacturers-in-china-and-how-to-source-them
https://www.chinaimportal.com/blog/import-sunglasses-eyewear-china/
https://www.quora.com/search?q=china%20eyewear%20supplier
https://www.isunnypacking.com/china-glasses-manufacturers/
https://www.keensourcing.com/top-10-china-b2b-marketplaces/
https://chozan.co/ultimate-online-b2b-channels-in-china-you-need-to-know/
https://everyonesocial.com/blog/b2b-social-media-platforms/
https://provprocure.com/6-bad-quality-made-in-china-myths-debunked/