How to Look for Reliable Blister Packaging Suppliers in China?
By Hope Chan. Last updated: June 29, 2022
An worker operating on Die-Cut machine
The importance of product packaging, I believe, needs no further emphasis.
Among various packaging methods, blister packaging is of high quality and low price, and is widely used, making it a popular choice for product packaging. Therefore, how to find a reliable blister packaging supplier is also a concern of many buyers.
This article revolves around the topic of How to Look for Reliable Blister Packaging Suppliers in China and hopefully you will find it helpful.
Table of Contents
To find Chinese blister product manufacturers in the epidemic situation of COVID-19, foreign buyers generally use the following 4 approaches:
- Go to B2B websites, such as Alibaba, Made in China, Global Sources, etc.
- Commission a professional sourcing agent to help identify suitable suppliers
- Enter keywords in search engines, screen them out one by one
- Get recommendation from friends or acquaintances
Now, we will elaborate on each approach and see which one suits you the most.
Approach 1 - B2B Websites
B2B websites have gathered a large number of suppliers and are very convenient to compare prices and services.
For those who want to find Chinese or Asian blister product manufacturers on B2B websites, Alibaba, Made in China, Global Sources, etc. are the places to go. We will take Alibaba as an example and guide you step by step.
What is Alibaba?
As a leading wholesale website, Alibaba has the largest number of online supplier directories in the world, with most of the suppliers being Chinese.
With just one click, you will have thousands of suppliers from all industries at your fingertips. Many companies also source from Alibaba at very competitive price and then sell on Amazon, eBay or other channels in their home market.
From product selection, payment to logistics arrangements, Alibaba provides one-stop solutions that make it easy for global buyers and sellers to do business on the site.
How to Buy on Alibaba?
Step 1. Create an Alibaba account
Click on the ‘Sign in Join Free‘ button in the upper right corner to register an account, getting ready for the following online communication and inquiries.
Step 2. Find Supplies + Contact + Send Inquiries
Method 1 - Direct Search
1) Type in key words in the search bar，such as blister packaging, clamshell blister packaging, blister packs, custom plastic packaging, carded blister, etc.
2) Look for suppliers. Check a few categories to narrow down your list.
3) Chat online and send inquiries
4) Pick 3-4 promising suppliers for further communication
Method 2 - RFQs (Request for Quotations)
What is RFQ?
As a platform for global buyers to post purchase requests and manage all offers received, Alibaba RFQ service surely saves users lots of time. Unlike direct search which operates on a case-by-case basis, with RFQ, more than 10 offers are quickly available for each purchasing request.
How to Send out RFQs on Alibaba?
1) Go to Alibaba RFQ page: https://rfq.alibaba.com/
2) Fill in the RFQ form
3) Submit the form and wait for quotations
4) Check and compare quotations
5) Pick a few promising suppliers for further communication
Features of Direct Search & RFQs
>>Direct Search
- Time-consuming: Screen out suppliers first, then establish contacts and get quotations
- Informative: Suitable for those who is new to the product or want to have custom products and don’t know where to start.
>>RFQs
- Time-efficient: Send out RFQs and get quotations first, then select a few for further communication
- Able to get fast response with multiple quotations from various suppliers
- Suitable for those who have a clear idea of what they want and how they want it.
Tips to Finding Reliable Blister Packaging Suppliers
Like all online shopping websites, in order to quickly filter out unsuitable sellers on Alibaba, category columns are available on each page. All you need to do is check a few boxes and, voilà, suppliers that meet your requirements are on your demand. We recommend you to pick those that have at least one of the two following symbols:
>>Verified Suppliers
- Suppliers that have their company premises or factories fully vetted by Alibaba staff to ensure legitimacy.
- A third-party verification company has also confirmed the legal existence of the suppliers.
- It’s a symbol that the suppliers are trustworthy and it’s safe to work with them.
>>Trade Assurance Suppliers
- Suppliers that use Alibaba as a third party.
- It’s the safest way to do business on Alibaba.
- Look for suppliers that have the Trade Assurance symbol.
What Is Trade Assurance and How Does It Work?
Trade Assurance is a free built-in protection service that cover orders placed on and paid for through their website. A win-win solution for both buyers and suppliers to create a safe and easy online purchasing environment.
For paying customers:
It protects buyers in the events that the suppliers fail to ship on time or the products quality varies from what have been agreed upon. Should any of these unfortunate situations occur, Alibaba will handle the disputes for buyers and guarantee your money back if needs be.
For suppliers:
It gives out credits as an incentive to those who deliver good quality products on time. The more credits you have, the higher you rank and the more likely you will be recommended to new clients.
To learn more, please click on the link below:
Other info that can be used as reference in selecting a supplier
- Location: The location of the supplier. Usually the best price you can find is from suppliers that based in China.
- YRS Icon: The number of years a supplier has been in business. The longer the better
- Supplier Index: Supplier Online Performance Index is classified into 6 levels (0-5, with 5 being the highest level) The more diamonds, the better.
- Transaction Level: The number of deals the supplier has closed over the years. The more orders they have, the more trustworthy they are.
- Response Time: The average response time of the supplier
- Response Rate: The percentage of inquiries that a supplier responds to.
Approach 2 - Sourcing Agents
If your budget is sufficient, but you do not have the time or the energy to screen suppliers of plastic products one by one, you can commission professional sourcing agents to help you find suitable suppliers.
Why Sourcing Agents?
Having both language and geographical advantages, professional local sourcing agents can:
- Personally inspect the factory;
- Select & inspect products;
- Negotiate prices on your behalf;
- Choose suppliers of blister products that meet your requirements;
- Handle trivial matters such as shipment and customs clearance.
The only downside is that you need an extra budget to pay the agents.
Which Sourcing Agents Would You Recommend?
GoalPackaging would like to recommend JingSourcing to those who read this post.
As an expert in sourcing for more than 7 years, it dedicates in serving small and medium-sized businesses.
It will help you find factories, get competitive prices, follow up production, ensure quality and even deliver products to the door if needs to be. JingSourcing guarantees no upfront charges, no experience needed. An agent will guide you step by step.
Clink to learn more about JingSourcing.
Approach 3 - Search Engines
This is probably the most frequently chosen approach when it comes to sourcing suppliers on the Internet.
As the world’s leading search engine, Google Search is the most used Internet search engine in many countries. Tons of companies will advertise on it.
Buyers only need to enter keywords related to blister products in the search bar, such as thermoformed blister packs, custom blister packaging, clamshell packaging, etc.
Lots of relevant recommendations will be listed and ready for viewing, among which paid Ads and organically top-ranked brands are also included.
>>Paid Search Results
Paid search results, aka display ads or pay-per-click ads. They are denoted with the word “Ad” before the hyperlink.
>>Organic Search Results
Organic search results are unpaid results that appear on a search engine results page after a query.
Features of Looking for Suppliers on Search Engines
>>Efficient
- As long as the keywords you use are accurate, with just one click, suppliers that can provide the kind of products or services you’ve been looking for will be presented to you in the form of advertisements.
- For those that advertise on Google Search, because each click on its advertising page costs money, the content of the ad is already condensed and focused, and buyers can easily tell if that’s what they want.
- If you are interested, you can leave your email or other contact information for further communication.
>>Reliable
- Granted, for those who have deep pockets, they can afford to spend a lot of money to advertise their products and thus always pop up in the front of the result list. But this DOES NOT necessarily mean they are the popular choices.
- Therefore, in addition to paid ads, the top-ranked business URLs are also good places to look for suppliers.
- There must be some reason why they rank so high in search engines. They are usually the ones the can provide users/buyers lots of information about the products. So it won’t hurt to take a few seconds and look at what they have to offer.
Approach 4 - Recommendation
Nothing beats a word-of-mouth marketing from a friend or an acquaintance.
They are the ones that have actually received good products and excellent services from a certain supplier and find him/her worthy of being recommended.
You can’t go wrong with that.
Note
***Always make sure to use email as a tool for communication.***
Although there are many other ways to communicate, such as WhatsApp, WeChat, the ‘Chat Now’ option on the website, etc., for any important issues or details related to your orders, it is best to communicate through emails, which can be documented and served as records for future reference and evidence in case of any disputes.
Conclusion
All in all, with the continuous spread of the global pandemic, traditional methods of conducting international trades such as participating in offline events like exhibitions, promotional activities to find suppliers or visiting factories in person have become very inconvenient and even impossible.
Therefore, it is the general trend to find suppliers online, trying different approaches and see what works for you.
Good luck and we wish you every success!