Do's & Don'ts when making inquiries to a sourcing agency

There is a lot of information about what you need when working with a sourcing agency, as well as in our blog post about preparing for product sourcing. In this post, we will use an example to show you how to do it right and how not to do it. This example request is about a shoehorn that a shoe store with several branches needs.

Hello dear Kaiserberg team,

We need shoehorns. Can we get them from you?

Kind regards,

Michael Müller from Schuhhaus Müller

This message gives no information about what the shoehorns should look like, what color they should be, how big they should be and what material they should be made of. There is just as little information about the required quantity of shoehorns and how quickly the shoehorns are needed.

Hello dear Kaiserberg team,

We need 20,000 shoehorns as quickly as possible. The dimensions for the shoehorns are approx. 4.5 x 60 x 3 cm (WxHxD) and they should be made of metal. 10,000 of the shoehorns should be painted black and the other 10,000 should be painted blue. The shoehorns should have a small hole at the top so that they can be hung up.

Attached you will find sketches of the planned shoehorns and pictures of comparable products so that you can get a better idea of what we have in mind for our product. We would like to sell the shoehorns to end customers for a maximum of €9.99, so they should not be too expensive to produce.

If anything is still unclear, please feel free to contact us and we will try to answer your questions. We can also clarify more detailed information in a conversation.

Best regards,

Michael Müller from Schuhhaus Müller

• Drawing, sketch and prototype of the desired product
• Requirement sheet for the product: size, quantity, color, material
• Define the framework conditions: How quickly is the product needed? At what price should the end product be sold?

A lot of information simplifies the collaboration and ensures that everything runs smoothly. If incorrect or incomplete information is provided, this can result in incorrect products for which the agencies and producers are not liable. This means that the companies are left with the faulty products.

Send us a no-obligation inquiry and our experts will get back to you!