It’s really common for first-time importers to be a little shocked when finding out the Minimum Ordering Quantity (MOQs) of their products after making a few inquiries with manufacturers online.

You will find that just about all categories and industries have reasonably high MOQs that often make it difficult to get into as a small business trying to get a product range launched.

For example products in the promotional, accessories, electronics, plastics, and packaging categories often have MOQ’s in the thousands for each product.

With the help of a sourcing company, these MOQ’s can be negotiated down and reduced effectively and very significantly. But as a first-time importer, you really must be prepared to be buying at the very least a high enough quantity to entice the manufacturer to want to work with you.

Launching a new product or brand is super exciting, and we get it, you want to have an incredible range of products for your customers to choose from, of course, this makes sense.

Different colour ranges, sizes, materials, finished, variations etc… Sounds great, doesn’t it? The only issue is, almost every time you make one of these changes, the manufacturer sees this as a new product skew, and it falls into the category of needing its own new MOQ.

I know, something as little as changing the colour of your product shouldn’t double the quantity the manufacturer wants, but manufacturing is complicated and setting up production runs and customising different colours comes at a higher cost to the manufacturer.

For them to actually make a profit from your order, they need you to order a healthy amount of products. You’ll see why as you read below.

How do you find out what your expected MOQ should be?

Unfortunately, there is no product index online displaying the different MOQ’s for different industries or products. Even different manufacturers for the same product can have different MOQ’s.

That’s because there are multiple manufacturers geared to service different sized markets and different customers (note this for later). A manufacturer who is supplying big brands like K-mart, Bunnings & Target would have a much higher MOQ than those smaller manufacturers servicing the small and medium-sized businesses. Definitely look into gaining help from a knowledgeable sourcing company, they’ll help you find & connect with those rarer and harder to find manufacturers who offer the smaller MOQ’s at the same quality & professionalism that the big stores get.

Engage a sourcing company

With the help of an expert team, it will be much easier scouring for quality, reliable manufacturers who can meet your MOQs. We’ll find you, and help you work with, those manufacturers who understand your business & your vision, we’ll help you negotiate terms, improve pricing and ensure top quality.

On many occasions, BI Connections has helped reduced their client’s minimum order quantities and expanded their initial ranges by tactfully negotiating with manufacturers and bringing clients huge value for their investment.

We have a lot of tricks up our sleeve if you like, and by having teams on the ground in each of these countries who are manufacturing experts, we can talk to the factories in their own language and become their friends, all on your behalf. If you are wanting to launch a true brand, you need to start with a quality factory & supply relationship.

Get in touch with us any time and we’ll do everything we can to help you make this happen.