Effective Ways to Manage Your Supplier and Minimize "Chabuduo" Results

- Henrique Valle, MTO123.com 

Although there is an endless number of Chinese factories and suppliers in China, several of the pitfalls from industry to industry seem to be similar. By keeping in mind a handful of tips you may be able to eliminate 80% of your recurring problems while sourcing in China. In this article we will focus on one of these major pitfalls while sourcing from Chinese suppliers: the “chabuduo” mentality.

“Chabuduo” [pronounced “cha boo dwaw”] in Chinese means literally “difference not big” or “it’s almost the same”. This can be translated to “the product you are getting is almost the same as the product you thought you were getting”. Unfortunately in my industry (promotional products) a product with a logo with a color slightly different than what it should is not “almost the same”, but is most likely completely and thoroughly unacceptable, even though the product functionality is perfect.

There are several social and cultural reasons for the existence of the chabuduo mentality in Chinese business, and this topic by itself could fill up pages of a book. Below are some general tips to follow in order to minimize “chabuduo” results:

• Get as many samples as necessary: expecting a complete order to be done properly without checking a sample first is a big risk. Even with reliable factories and service providers, things can and often do go wrong


• Send your own sample: If you have a copy of the product you want, send it to the factory. At least in the promotional products industry the value is not on the product itself, but in the customization. Intellectual property concerns related to the product are minimal hence sending samples to the customer is not a concern.


• Document everything as clearly as possible: in our case that means screen shots from different points of view, clear color instructions in the correct color system, and thorough documentation of characteristics of the product.


• Do your homework: learn about the product thoroughly before you actually order it. Finding specifications of product within the Internet makes this a breeze. If your supplier notices you do not understand product thoroughly he will tend to give you the lower grade product unless you object it, and potentially increase price if you bring up a requirement after a quotation was sent.


• Don’t impose unrealistic deadlines: It is hard enough to avoid chabuduo results even with a sufficient timeline. However, imposing unrealistic deadlines on your Chinese supplier is a recipe for disaster. This will automatically decrease the number of iterations from mock up to final product and definitely decrease the chances of getting the order right. How to avoid it? PLAN properly.

We hope that these tips help to decrease your chances of chabuduo results.

Henrique Valle is one of the owners of Shanghai Yang Ma Advertising and runs its promotional products division: MTO123.com. This division sources promotional products from China and exports them all over the world, from SMEs to Fortune 500 companies.