Transcripts
Welcome back to Unboxing Logistics.
Speaker:I'm your host, Lori Boyer of EasyPost.
Speaker:Folks, we are in the thick of holiday season.
Speaker:I hope you're surviving.
Speaker:I hope you are not just surviving.
Speaker:I hope you're thriving and having a wonderful peak season.
Speaker:I know that for a lot of us we're, we're buried in the orders and, and the
Speaker:shipments and everything right now, but it's not too early to be thinking 2026,
Speaker:what are your plans coming out of, of Q4?
Speaker:So we're gonna be talking about sourcing today.
Speaker:I know it's a big topic for a lot of you, and I have brought on my friend
Speaker:Mattia, from Alibaba.com, who knows everything you could possibly want
Speaker:to know about sourcing, and he is gonna answer all of our questions.
Speaker:Mania, can you introduce yourself a little bit to our,
Speaker:our Unboxing Logistics family?
Speaker:Hi Lori.
Speaker:Thanks for having me and for having Alibaba.com.
Speaker:It's, it's pleasure and honor to be part of your podcast.
Speaker:I watch many of your episodes, so we're very thrilled to, to share our knowledge
Speaker:with, with your clients and audience.
Speaker:Fantastic.
Speaker:That is awesome.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:We are closing up this season of the podcast, and one question we've been
Speaker:asking this season that I wanna ask you as well is, who is a person or even a role
Speaker:that you really admire in this industry?
Speaker:And, and tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker:I admire right now anyone that can transform AI into a person.
Speaker:We are launching a lot of new AI features and sometimes these
Speaker:features don't sold on a person.
Speaker:So anyone in the industry and any platform, any, any client, any
Speaker:member that can transform AI in a more human being that is like, like
Speaker:my, my my role model right now.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:That's totally a unique take and I am super all about that.
Speaker:People, if you are those AI heroes of ours out there, 'cause I think that's
Speaker:so true, there's so many tools, there's amazing, really cool uses of AI, let us
Speaker:know in the comments or shoot me an email.
Speaker:What are you doing?
Speaker:How is it working?
Speaker:What have your successes been?
Speaker:Yeah, I would love to hear.
Speaker:Maybe we can even have some of you come on the podcast and
Speaker:tell us about what you're doing.
Speaker:That sounds fantastic.
Speaker:Okay, Mathia to our topic.
Speaker:Let's talk sourcing.
Speaker:I talk to different brand, shippers all the time, okay.
Speaker:And sourcing can be a little bit of a stress.
Speaker:What are you seeing, or kind of, especially in that kind of typical
Speaker:mid-size ecommerce, but even down to the little small ones,
Speaker:what are people really stressed about when it comes to sourcing?
Speaker:Lori, as you know, I work for Alibaba.com.
Speaker:That is the largest marketplace in the world when it comes to B2B.
Speaker:Many of, in the US, our platform is still conceived as a platform to source product
Speaker:from China and from from Asia in general.
Speaker:Right now we have more than 200,000 sellers from 200 countries
Speaker:and regions, and we have more than 200 millions products.
Speaker:I come from Italy, that's my, my own country.
Speaker:Thousands of, of Italian brands and European brands that are
Speaker:selling through Alibaba.com.
Speaker:Today, sourcing is global.
Speaker:The supply chain is global.
Speaker:So for a medium sized business, sometimes is very challenging not only
Speaker:to understand how the supply chain works but also to understand the
Speaker:supplier that we have in our platform, but usually their procurement office,
Speaker:they don't have a procurement office.
Speaker:So we need to understand who's the best supplier, who can ship
Speaker:the product in time, how to verify the supplier is reliable.
Speaker:What kind of feedbacks are our buyers posting?
Speaker:So that's why when I, when I said at the beginning, when my,
Speaker:my role model is someone that can personalize the, humanize AI.
Speaker:We are doing this in Alibaba.
Speaker:We are supporting micro and small businesses with our AI tools that
Speaker:really understand what our small businesses are facing right now.
Speaker:A lot of them need to change their, their, their suppliers.
Speaker:They need suppliers that are local, that are here in the US, but also that are
Speaker:from, from other countries and regions.
Speaker:So our goal is really to be a partner, a human partner with AI tools to, to
Speaker:any company that, that, that needs support when it comes to sourcing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So it sounds like what I'm hearing is you're seeing companies who are
Speaker:really stressed with not having the knowledge, the understand, I mean,
Speaker:supply chain is massively complex.
Speaker:Trust me.
Speaker:If you're feeling like you don't get it, I don't get it either half the
Speaker:time, and I've been in the industry and, and done all the reading.
Speaker:So super complex, and it's changing a lot.
Speaker:We see changes all the time.
Speaker:You know, when I get people say, should I be moving my sourcing away
Speaker:from China into other countries?
Speaker:Should I be not?
Speaker:Should I just be domestic within my own country, whatever that country may be.
Speaker:What changes have you seen that you feel like maybe over
Speaker:the last, three to five years.
Speaker:You know, what, what are the biggest changes that you've noticed?
Speaker:A lot of changes.
Speaker:I started my career 25 years ago, and I was supporting Italian companies
Speaker:to export all over the world.
Speaker:And we were organizing trade shows, trade missions in China here in
Speaker:the US, across the globe and the needed assistance in different way.
Speaker:Today AI is a revolution.
Speaker:I always say that in in the past we had three important period.
Speaker:The first one is, was internet that was enabled everyone in the
Speaker:world to communicate instantly.
Speaker:Mattia, you and I are almost like pre-internet at this stage.
Speaker:We're getting old, right?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Early career was early internet, yeah.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And everyone was in the same position of the first time a company from, from China
Speaker:could communicate directly here in the US.
Speaker:And actually Alibaba.com was created in 1999 because our founder was looking
Speaker:for beer in in, in a search engine and he couldn't find any Chinese beer.
Speaker:So he decided to build Alibaba.com to be like this this this platform
Speaker:where companies all from all over the world could find Chinese suppliers.
Speaker:Now, as I said, we, we are a global platform.
Speaker:The second revolution that that I, that I see where companies
Speaker:from all over the world were put in the same position was COVID.
Speaker:Everywhere in the world companies had to face this, this challenge.
Speaker:And the third revolution is AI.
Speaker:Because AI is revolutionizing how businesses are doing ecommerce,
Speaker:and especially B2B ecommerce.
Speaker:That's why we are changing our platform.
Speaker:Each single feature is now being redesigned.
Speaker:As many, many of you know that in our, in our group we are
Speaker:developing our AI platforms.
Speaker:So these platform are really supporting small businesses to select the right
Speaker:suppliers, to understand who is the right supplier, to understand if
Speaker:their idea where it's is, is white.
Speaker:Maybe you want to launch a makeup line in in the United States and you don't know
Speaker:the colors, you don't know what kind of packaging, what kind of certifications.
Speaker:So our platform right now enables all companies to have a better
Speaker:understanding of the business plan.
Speaker:And the second part is to communicate with with suppliers from all over the world.
Speaker:So we have launched in our platform two features.
Speaker:That one is called Co-pilot.
Speaker:Basically the Co-pilot can support our our our buyers, our, any, any businesses
Speaker:that is looking to buy products directly on Alibaba in any communication, any
Speaker:request for quotation in understanding.
Speaker:Maybe you want to purchase a thousand chairs, but you don't know which
Speaker:chairs are trendy or which colors you're in the US are currently.
Speaker:So, so our platform really support in creating a, a request for quotation
Speaker:for you and will highlight if you're missing, for example, certification,
Speaker:time of delivery, any information that, that it, it really can, can support to
Speaker:receive the right quotation, but also our AI now can compare quotation for you, can
Speaker:create the image of your product that you have in your mind and also can support
Speaker:the comparison of different quotations.
Speaker:It will tell you, will guide you enough to understand which
Speaker:is the best supplier for you.
Speaker:Okay, so you're the AI, so where you're seeing AI being really big in sourcing
Speaker:really has to do with, it can help, like let's just pretend I'm a, a random brand
Speaker:and I'm going out and I say, you know, I'm wanting to make a scrunchie company,
Speaker:you know, to sell hair scrunchies.
Speaker:But I dunno where, what supplier I should go.
Speaker:So the AI would then give me a list of options of supply, or do what I put in
Speaker:like, here's all the kinds of things that I'm thinking that I want from scrunchies
Speaker:and, and you know, all the stats, and then it, it brings up comparisons
Speaker:based on like what data, I guess.
Speaker:What, where is the AI piece come in?
Speaker:I'm, I'm curious about that.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:We have two solutions right now.
Speaker:One that is really focused in supporting more what, what we call
Speaker:creators, anyone that has an idea to launch, to launch a product.
Speaker:This platform is called accio.com so it's A C C I O .com.
Speaker:And basically is our new sourcing agent.
Speaker:We'll work with you to understand if your idea is suitable for the market.
Speaker:We give you recommendation on what kind of products are already in the market,
Speaker:the price range, and then we guide you to to create and to search the
Speaker:best suppliers for, for your product.
Speaker:So it gives you a little bit of kind of market research.
Speaker:Competitors, all of that.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And then we, we recommend you some suppliers.
Speaker:And these suppliers are not only from Alibaba.com, as I mentioned,
Speaker:we have 200,000 suppliers.
Speaker:Those are from our sister companies.
Speaker:We recently invested in the largest B2B marketplace in
Speaker:Europe that is called Visible.
Speaker:So all suppliers, 2 million suppliers from, from Europe that are listed
Speaker:invisible, that are the Europe, Euro pages, if any one of you is, is, is
Speaker:familiar with Euro pages, you can find suppliers from from, from Europe as well.
Speaker:And we will open to any B2B store in the net.
Speaker:So as, as a, as a creator, as a new entrepreneur, you're searching
Speaker:for products, we can recommend the right product for you, no
Speaker:matter if it is in Alibaba or anywhere anywhere else in the net.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:That makes sense.
Speaker:So let's talk about sourcing strategies in general.
Speaker:So, you know, you've got an ecommerce company out there.
Speaker:They're trying to sell let's say their sourcing strategy,
Speaker:they don't really have one maybe.
Speaker:I, I honestly, that's probably where it starts about half the time.
Speaker:There's not really a strategy, sort of throwing things at the
Speaker:wall and seeing if it sticks.
Speaker:Let's say they're in that position, what are your recommendations for them?
Speaker:Or maybe they do have like, okay, we're using these suppliers, I've
Speaker:used 'em for a long time, prices are going up, or I'm seeing more fee.
Speaker:You know, how do you develop a really good strategy around your
Speaker:suppliers and your sourcing?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:First thing that I always say is to do a competitor analysis.
Speaker:Your price, compare your price point with other brands and other
Speaker:companies there that are selling a similar or comparable product to yours.
Speaker:Based on that, you can really understand that if your your price, your costs
Speaker:in production are, are, are feasible.
Speaker:And are the right now.
Speaker:The second point is to find the right suppliers.
Speaker:How to find the right supplier, as I mentioned, we support with AI.
Speaker:It takes time to understand.
Speaker:Knowledge is, is is quite important.
Speaker:That's why AI really understand the needs of of buyers.
Speaker:We have verified suppliers on Alibaba.com.
Speaker:These verified suppliers are not only verified by by, by Alibaba.
Speaker:But we, they are verified by third party agencies like certification companies
Speaker:like SGS, Veritas, TUV in in Europe.
Speaker:This company certify not only that the company exists, that is a legit
Speaker:company, but also that their R and D capacity, their certification their
Speaker:manufacturing plants and so on.
Speaker:Mattia is it kind of common that there's just fraud out there,
Speaker:that there are fake companies?
Speaker:Like how big are the, the risks when you're kind of
Speaker:just searching out suppliers?
Speaker:I strongly recommend always to do a supplier assessment.
Speaker:We have also some, some podcasts, some webinars on how to, to vet
Speaker:the suppliers, as I mentioned.
Speaker:Our suppliers are vetted.
Speaker:My recommendation is always to check with a verified supplier
Speaker:badge to see the reviews from, from our from our, from other buyers.
Speaker:Also the star rating system of a company for how long this company
Speaker:has been in active suppliers in our platform in Alibaba.com.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:If you just started two months ago, maybe I should be a little worried.
Speaker:Or if nobody else has ever reviewed you, that's a concern.
Speaker:And, and somewhere that, you know, I, I would just, I would hate for
Speaker:companies to lose everything because they pick the wrong supplier.
Speaker:So, okay.
Speaker:I kind of interrupted you, so I wanna make sure we're, we're back on track.
Speaker:So you said strategy number one, competitive analysis.
Speaker:Number two, really making sure that you're finding the right
Speaker:suppliers, the right sourcing.
Speaker:Was there more?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And multiple suppliers.
Speaker:Oh, it's a multiple suppliers, a recommendation here,
Speaker:don't rely on one supplier.
Speaker:Even if you rely on, you build this a long-term relationship, I always recommend
Speaker:to find the right partner, not a supplier.
Speaker:So when, when you start, always start with a small quantity.
Speaker:And then these relationships should should go for, for the long term.
Speaker:But always compare prices.
Speaker:Always have a backup plan.
Speaker:We saw what happened with COVID where the disruption of global supply
Speaker:chains, but also because you never know if there is a better supplier.
Speaker:And what we are seeing Alibaba, what I, what what I said at the beginning,
Speaker:internet, COVID The third one is AI.
Speaker:We say that we are seeing a democratization of AI.
Speaker:The use of AI in our platform by small and medium sized businesses
Speaker:is rising, in least developed countries, of developing countries.
Speaker:The rate that small businesses are using AI, for example, in Southeast Asia, in
Speaker:India, in Africa, and in Latin America, it reaches the 85% of our features.
Speaker:While here in the US or 60% and in Europe is less.
Speaker:That means that there are a lot of new suppliers that are using AI,
Speaker:that have new products, that have a new solution for your business.
Speaker:Do you have a rule of thumb of how many, I mean, is two suppliers enough?
Speaker:Are you saying you should have 27 supplier?
Speaker:You know, where is the happy kind of situation?
Speaker:Well, it really depends on the, on, on the business and the industry.
Speaker:Everyone always says that Mattia.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I, I, I know you, you, you, you, you know that I'm an expert
Speaker:in, in the beauty industry.
Speaker:I used to be the global marketing director for Cosmoprof.
Speaker:So I know a lot of beauty companies.
Speaker:And they're always asking me how many suppliers should I have for the secondary
Speaker:packaging or for the primary packaging?
Speaker:Always say at least three.
Speaker:Okay, so at least three.
Speaker:At least three, yeah.
Speaker:Always compare.
Speaker:Always compare.
Speaker:And how often should you be switching it up?
Speaker:It really depends.
Speaker:If you're happy with usual suppliers, don't.
Speaker:But always maybe for gadgets, more for miniature products.
Speaker:If you wanna stay again in, in the beauty industry, try to to challenge
Speaker:your partner with other suppliers, and this is my, my recommendation.
Speaker:It's isn't our job, isn't our job.
Speaker:It, it, it works because if, if COVID happens or if there is a
Speaker:change in that we are seeing.
Speaker:I talked to so many experts and so many to say it's kind of the norm instead
Speaker:of an anomaly now is like, we just had to be ready, that probably your supply
Speaker:chain's gonna get disrupted somewhere.
Speaker:Whether it's a natural disaster or a war or a fighting and
Speaker:tariffs and who knows, right?
Speaker:There's just stuff going on.
Speaker:Also, logistic costs are, are a big component if you are importing
Speaker:products or even if you are sending products throughout the US, if your
Speaker:suppliers are here in a, in the US or in other parts of the world.
Speaker:Logistic costs are, are a big component.
Speaker:So if you find another supplier and this can reduce your logistic costs,
Speaker:that will have, will have an impact.
Speaker:So that makes me think so, I mean, 'cause you mentioned, well if you're happy
Speaker:with your supplier, stay with them.
Speaker:But should I like every six months be looking to see if there's a better
Speaker:deal or every year or, I don't wanna think like, oh I love my suppliers
Speaker:and not realize that I am actually overpaying 'cause I haven't checked.
Speaker:After you do your competitive analysis, after I, I, I, if, if you don't have
Speaker:a procurement team really check for at least let's say two, two more
Speaker:suppliers, one closer to you, and one with an with more innovative approach.
Speaker:I think that that can be a a good number for a small businesses.
Speaker:Always, always open your eyes.
Speaker:Go to trade shows, search on Alibaba and compare your products
Speaker:with, with your competitors.
Speaker:You totally made me light up when you said that look for someone with
Speaker:an innovative approach, because that is a key element for every business.
Speaker:So if you're listening out there, a little portion of whatever you're doing.
Speaker:I say the same with shippers.
Speaker:You know, we deal with, I mean with our carriers, a little bit,
Speaker:should be trying out something new and trying something innovative.
Speaker:You know, you don't want the bulk, you don't want 90% of your product to be
Speaker:coming through an innovative source, but a little bit should be trying out
Speaker:because you never know when you may just find an incredible, you know,
Speaker:method or, or an incredible opportunity.
Speaker:I like that as well, that you said to bring, you know, maybe
Speaker:one a little bit closer to home.
Speaker:When people do switch things up, when they're switching suppliers or maybe
Speaker:regions or what, what things kind of surprise them or catch them off guard
Speaker:or maybe are they not prepared for?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right now, Alibaba.com is the most downloaded ad in in Google.
Speaker:And I am not saying these as, as a spot, a commercial, but I really want to say
Speaker:it because companies here in the US are diversifying their, their suppliers.
Speaker:We're seeing that is we are, we have five offices now across the US to
Speaker:really stay close to, to our clients.
Speaker:We have over 21 million clients here in the US.
Speaker:So we had large customer base, from micro small businesses to favorite buyers
Speaker:that are creators, that are companies, entrepreneurs, young entrepreneurs
Speaker:that are launching new products, to the big retailers that are sort,
Speaker:sourcing for for, for their products.
Speaker:Okay, great.
Speaker:So if somebody switches, they, you know, maybe they found, they
Speaker:see, wow, this supplier looks great, this price is amazing.
Speaker:Are there red flags that maybe, I, I'm a little bit of a skeptic here, so I'm
Speaker:always like, is it too good to be true?
Speaker:You know, what is a red flag that this supplier is maybe too good to be true?
Speaker:And I should, I should proceed cautiously.
Speaker:Anyone should do a supplier assessment no matter if you're searching
Speaker:for a product on Alibaba, any other platform, even in a trade show.
Speaker:You need to know, you need to check the reviews and everything
Speaker:that I, that I said before.
Speaker:With the red flags, it really, it really depends.
Speaker:Always ask for samples.
Speaker:If you are example, your, your, that is, is the first part.
Speaker:If you are a beauty brand, for example you can ask for not customized samples.
Speaker:Then you can go to customized samples, and then you place the first order with
Speaker:minimal quantities, and then if you're happy, you can, you can, you can scale up.
Speaker:Also, I, we see a lot of buyers there are now because they need to diversify.
Speaker:They're also traveling.
Speaker:We recently opened a new office in Mexico City.
Speaker:So we have a lot of US companies that are now going directly
Speaker:to check the factories.
Speaker:A lot of fashion companies are diversifying here in the US as well.
Speaker:We are you mentioned sourcing, that is a topic of to today's podcast but
Speaker:we have now thousands of US companies that are selling through Alibaba.com
Speaker:because US companies are searching for products that are already here in the US.
Speaker:They're stocked here in the US so we are welcoming a lot of brands that
Speaker:wants to sell wholesale here in the US.
Speaker:Or they want to find a distributor, a retailer, an importer in
Speaker:other parts of the world.
Speaker:As I mentioned, I'm Italian.
Speaker:We have a lot of Italian brands that are selling through Alibaba.com, B2B
Speaker:wholesale here in the United States from best wine to pasta to biscuits.
Speaker:So if you're interested also, you can buy, if you wanna buy in bulk, you can
Speaker:even go to Alibaba.com to buy Italian products or French products in bulk.
Speaker:Oh, that's really interesting.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:If you, I was thinking, as you mentioned sending the samples.
Speaker:Love that, love that walkthrough of, you know, and, and also visiting.
Speaker:I am such a huge proponent of getting your boots on the ground and kind of
Speaker:seeing what's going on in warehouses and, and making those decisions.
Speaker:But at the same time, there's kind of a wanting to do it fast,
Speaker:that sort of speed to market idea.
Speaker:How do you recommend balancing like kind of quality control with speed to try to
Speaker:be making sure that you're, you're getting to your customers as quickly as you want?
Speaker:Quality control, as I mentioned, is samples and that,
Speaker:that very, very crucial.
Speaker:So never bypass that step.
Speaker:Never, never, never bypass that.
Speaker:Always ask if, if you're not a hundred percent sure if a company
Speaker:is, is legit, we are here to support.
Speaker:So we can call the company, we can organize Zoom calls, meeting with them.
Speaker:Our team is here to support also verify their certifications.
Speaker:We, as you know, we, we have 200,000 suppliers just in Alibaba.
Speaker:But also if you're searching for, for supplier in our platform, always ask
Speaker:for copy of your certifications and double check this, this certification.
Speaker:And then there are the payment terms.
Speaker:So quality is, is important.
Speaker:You can check quality, but then it comes to payment terms and delivery time.
Speaker:Compare, if you compare, you understand the price range.
Speaker:So usually there is not such a big difference.
Speaker:Secondly, compare the, the delivery time.
Speaker:You need a partner that can deliver not only for one order, but you are, you are
Speaker:looking to build a long-term relationship.
Speaker:So you need to understand that their R and D capacity, their their
Speaker:manufacturing capacity because in peak seasons, like double 11,
Speaker:they just ended in in China or or Thanksgiving or Christmas time.
Speaker:You really need to check if your suppliers can end all peak seasons.
Speaker:So I wanna learn a little bit about how it works at Alibaba.com and what
Speaker:it would be like if I were, you know, a seller or something and I were using you.
Speaker:Do I, so the AI, for instance, you mentioned making, comparing all of those
Speaker:sort of contract pieces, the, you know, the cost, but also the service level and
Speaker:the time, and do your AI tools like kind of put those comparisons together for
Speaker:me I guess how does that work when I'm doing that comparing process through you?
Speaker:We have multiple ways.
Speaker:The first one, you can if you find a product on Alibaba.com,
Speaker:you already know the products that you that you're looking for.
Speaker:You can send a, a direct inquiry to the supplier after you did your
Speaker:sub, your sub supplier assessment.
Speaker:If you don't know if you, because there are too many suppliers and you want
Speaker:to compare different quotation, we have what we call the, RFQ Marketplace,
Speaker:Request for Quotation Marketplace.
Speaker:Our AI will support you to edit and to create also images of, of your product.
Speaker:If you don't have already, you're just an idea.
Speaker:You want to, to, to launch a new product.
Speaker:And we will work with you to understand your business.
Speaker:Always remember that AI are conversational tools.
Speaker:So you you need to explain your business.
Speaker:It's not just posting a request for quotation.
Speaker:And the request for quotation, you usually give one or two weeks,
Speaker:and different suppliers will answer to their request for quotation.
Speaker:And we, we can send you direct messages in our AI tool.
Speaker:We compare all these quotation for you.
Speaker:We create also a nice table with with a different features and we
Speaker:compare the, your, your needs with with the supplier's quotation.
Speaker:Okay, cool.
Speaker:So as well, once I've selected my suppliers and I'm working with
Speaker:them, do I work with them directly?
Speaker:Do I somehow go through Alibaba.com?
Speaker:How, how does that relationship look?
Speaker:You can do both.
Speaker:Our we don't take any commissional sales.
Speaker:This is something that a lot of small businesses don't know.
Speaker:Our business model is very different from any other ecommerce platform.
Speaker:We are a B2B platform.
Speaker:So Lori, imagine you need to buy a machinery from Germany.
Speaker:You will never transact, probably hundred of thousand of dollars
Speaker:through an ecommerce platform.
Speaker:So you probably need a contract.
Speaker:You probably need delivery time.
Speaker:You need payment terms that cannot be transact in a platform.
Speaker:Majority of, of, of, of a transaction, of a order that don't happen in Alibaba.com.
Speaker:And we will tell you more how we make money because that's, that's the question
Speaker:that usually a small business ask me.
Speaker:But if you are a small business and maybe you're looking for packaging
Speaker:from a suppliers now in Vietnam because we see a rise of packaging
Speaker:manufacturers in, in in Vietnam.
Speaker:The first thing to do is to to ask for samples.
Speaker:You can order the samples directly through Alibaba.com.
Speaker:You can pay for the sample in case the suppliers will ask you for
Speaker:the the logistic costs, u usually for for international achievement.
Speaker:And then you have to place a first order, the first quantity, and I
Speaker:strongly recommend that for the first orders to use Alibaba.com.
Speaker:We don't take any commission on sales, so really speak with a
Speaker:supplier, but you find me Alibaba.com.
Speaker:I strongly recommend to keep the communication in our system because if
Speaker:you place your order on Alibaba.com, you can use our trade assurance.
Speaker:The trade assurance is a program that support especially small, small businesses
Speaker:to to order to place the first order on Alibaba.com and is money back guarantee.
Speaker:So if a product arrives here in the US.
Speaker:With low quality, with different the delivery time, it really can,
Speaker:can support a small business.
Speaker:And then when you establish a partnership, a relationship with
Speaker:yourself, use supplier, you can work on payment terms and different ways
Speaker:to, to, to transact in place orders.
Speaker:That's great.
Speaker:I love that because one of the things I do recommend, especially when we're
Speaker:dealing with all of the challenges in the world out there, is to work
Speaker:closely with your suppliers and to create a great relationship with them
Speaker:where your partnerships and you're managing all these challenges together.
Speaker:And so I love that, how it's like you kind of set up the relationship, you
Speaker:get it going, you make sure it's safe and secure, and you're there if they
Speaker:need you, but you can also deal with it.
Speaker:We're running late on time, but I want to hear from you.
Speaker:Are there any other things that you feel like people would want
Speaker:to know about Alibaba.com or about just sourcing in general, tips for
Speaker:them before we close out today?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Sourcing is just one part of being an eco B2B, ecommerce company.
Speaker:So you need also so to think to sell your products.
Speaker:And selling B2B today is also through ecommerce platforms.
Speaker:I find a lot of US companies that they don't know Alibaba.com
Speaker:as a new sales channel.
Speaker:And also as a data platform.
Speaker:These are two ways that a company especially buyers.
Speaker:The, in the US we have 21 million buyers, but we don't have 21 million sellers.
Speaker:And the reason why, because they don't understand, especially
Speaker:today, buyers in you, the US we are looking for products that are
Speaker:already here in the United States.
Speaker:So if you're a brand, you're a manufacturer, private label
Speaker:manufacturer, you have a incredible opportunity right now because brands
Speaker:here in the US retailers, importer distributors, are looking for what
Speaker:we call US local stock org.
Speaker:So if you're interested, we also have a special program with EasyPost.
Speaker:We support your clients, Lori, to onboard free of charge and selling all sale on
Speaker:Alibaba.com because how we make money, we make money through memberships.
Speaker:We sell membership to to brands, to manufacturers, to any supplier
Speaker:that wants to open a storefront.
Speaker:Is it your membership?
Speaker:And thanks to Easy Pause is complimentary.
Speaker:So we have 25, I think left
Speaker:membership that can, we can give away.
Speaker:So sourcing is just one one.
Speaker:EasyPost customers, really great opportunity.
Speaker:We Love this partnership with Alibaba.com.
Speaker:They really have a lot of opportunities for you as shippers,
Speaker:as ecommerce sellers out there.
Speaker:So how can they find out Mattia more information?
Speaker:What, where, where should they go if they are interested in that?
Speaker:As I said, I love relationship building, relationship and network.
Speaker:So you can add me on LinkedIn.
Speaker:I, I am very active on LinkedIn, so feel free to reach out to me through LinkedIn.
Speaker:Also EasyPost has my email address, but it's really easy.
Speaker:Is my name dot, last name Alibaba, inc.com.
Speaker:So it is very.
Speaker:It's very easy to remember.
Speaker:I am I love to support, especially small businesses when they start
Speaker:sourcing or selling through Alibaba.com and we have a team here in
Speaker:the US that is an amazing team.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:The small businesses, you know, secretly my favorites out there.
Speaker:I, oh, just a special place for small businesses in my heart too.
Speaker:Mattia if they, want your best wine recommendations from Italy, will you be
Speaker:willing to share that with them as well?
Speaker:Yes, I will.
Speaker:Perfect, perfect.
Speaker:It's a win-win for everyone.
Speaker:So thank you so much for being here.
Speaker:Thank you again everyone.
Speaker:Love having this great conversation.
Speaker:Check out Alibaba.com.
Speaker:They're doing some really, really cool, innovative things over there these days.
Speaker:Love the AI move, love that diversification.
Speaker:There's so much you can learn about them.
Speaker:Sourcing questions, keep those relationships with your suppliers
Speaker:strong and make sure you're continually refining them.
Speaker:Great, great advice that we had here from, from Mattia today.
Speaker:And thank you so much again for being here.
Speaker:Thanks you, Lori.
Speaker:Thanks everyone.
Speaker:Byebye.
