20 sites for finding B2B suppliers in international markets
If you have decided to find an industrial hardware supplier abroad on your own, you should start by looking for information about such partners. Here too, there are many platforms that can help you find B2B business partners in foreign markets.
Where to find suppliers from China
1. Alibaba
Website: https://www.alibaba.com/
Number of suppliers: more than 3 million.
Countries: Europe, Asia, America.
Search criteria: product, supplier type, product category, trade guarantees, location, turnover, certification.
Features. The site has rather high requirements for the mandatory filling of data in the profile of the supplier. If the company has the status of a verified supplier, you can see the following data.
Example of data on a verified supplier on alibaba.com
Also in the virtual tour it is possible to evaluate the supplier visually: there are photos, videos of production facilities, warehouses, design office, test benches for product quality testing.
Example of virtual tour
By product. Almost here is a full-fledged company's site with detailed product descriptions and high quality photos.
2. Globalsources
Website: https://www.globalsources.com/
Number of suppliers: more than 50000.
Countries: China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia and others.
Search criteria: product, supplier, product category, location, confirmed supplier status.
Features. A detailed commercial information is given, including characteristics of production facilities, trading potential, number of personnel, availability of international product certification, overview of methods and equipment for product quality control, video tours by division. Telephone number of the manager - after registration. It is also possible to write by e-mail or activate chat from the site. The addresses of the company's websites are provided.
Example of verified supplier data on globalsources.com
3. Made-in-China
Website: https://www.made-in-china.com/
Number of suppliers: over 2 million.
Countries: China.
Search criteria: product, supplier, product category, location, international certification, annual turnover, number of employees.
Features. Company profile includes data on export turnover and export regions, average lead time for production (excluding delivery), nearest port, etc. It is possible to contact the manager directly from the platform. Some companies in their profiles offer to book an offline visit to the company at once, with ticket and hotel booking.
Example of verified supplier data on made-in-china.com
By goods. Practically here is a full-fledged supplier's website with detailed product descriptions and high quality, high resolution photos.
Here you can easily find information about manufacturers of locks, handles, hinges, seals for metal furniture.
4. HKTDC
Website: https://www.hktdc.com/
Number of suppliers: more than 120,000.
Countries: Hong Kong, China and other Southeast Asian countries.
Search criteria: product, supplier type, product category, factory location, product certificates, company certificates.
Features. There is little commercial information: annual turnover, number of employees, certificates, average response time per application. There are no direct contacts. Answer any questions through filling out the registration form.
The platform will provide assistance in finding suppliers, in organizing matchmaking – a face-to-face business meeting with several business partners at once, followed by a session of individual negotiations.
Where to find Turkish suppliers
5. TurkishExporter
Website: https://www.turkishexporter.net/
Number of companies: more than 20,000 Turkish suppliers.
Countries: Turkey India, Italy and others, 25 countries in total in Europe, Asia, Africa.
Search criteria: product, product categories, supplier type, location.
Features. There is no commercial data about companies. There is a name and a list of categories. Communication with the manager through the site by filling out the enquiry form. Company website addresses are not given.
6. Turkey.tradekey
Website: https://turkey.tradekey.com/ (subdomain of the site https://www.tradekey.com/).
Number of suppliers: several thousand.
Countries: Turkey.
Search criteria: product, product category, location.
Features. No data about the partner is freely available, except for the name and list of categories. All on request via registration form.
Note. You can also find data about Turkish companies in supplier databases on Europages, Exportpages, EC21.
Indian suppliers sites
There are quite a few websites for sourcing. But for your purposes, the company must have an export licence. Therefore, in our selection we have highlighted sites with such partners.
7. Tradeindia
Website: https://www.tradeindia.com/
Number of suppliers: more than 5 million.
Countries: India.
Search criteria: product, product category, company type, location. Have export licence.
Features. From commercial data give annual turnover and number of employees. Telephone and other data - through filling in the registration form. They do not give a direct link to a specific manager or the address of the company's website.
8. Exportersindia
Website: https://www.exportersindia.com/
Number of suppliers: more than 1 million.
Countries: India and others.
Search criteria: product, company, product category, company type, location. Have export licence.
Sample supplier data on exportersindia.com
Where to find suppliers from the USA and Canada
9. ThomasNet
Website: https://www.thomasnet.com/
Number of suppliers: over 500,000 suppliers.
Countries: USA.
Search criteria: product, supplier, product category, location.
Features. There are 2D & 3D CAD files and catalogues. There is little commercial information: annual turnover, number of employees, number of certificates. Need to search on company website. Free access to 1 phone number. No access to managers. The very structure of information, in our opinion, is inconvenient to use.
10. Toboc
Website: https://www.toboc.com/
Number of suppliers: over 600,000.
Countries: Canada and more than 30 countries.
Search criteria: product, product category, location, annual turnover, number of employees.
Features. A bit of commercial data. For details, you have to go to the site of the company itself. Contacts open only after registration on the site.
Example of supplier data on toboc.com
Best supplier databases from Europe
11. Europages
Web site: https://www.europages.com/
Number of companies: more than 3 million.
Countries: 35 European countries.
Search criteria: product, product category, location.
Features. Few commercial data. For them you have to go to the site of the company itself. Free to open 2 phones.
12. Wer liefert was (WLW)
Website: https://www.wlw.de
Number of companies: more than 650 000.
Countries: mainly Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Search criteria: product, product category, location, company type, number of employees.
Features. Few commercial data, you have to go to the company's website for them. Free access to 1 phone number, but no contact person is listed.
13. Exportpages
Website: https://www.exportpages.com
Number of suppliers: more than 50,000 companies.
Countries: Germany, Austria, Turkey, China and other countries of the world.
Search criteria: product, product categories, location and company type.
Features: Company profile includes year founded, number of employees, ISO certification. 1 phone number is freely available. Other contacts via registration. Commercial data should be searched on the website of the company itself.
14. Directindustry
Website: https://www.directindustry.com/
Number of suppliers: over 20,000 manufacturers and distributors.
Countries: UK, USA, China and other countries.
Search criteria: product, brand, product categories, location, specifications.
Features. There is no commercial data about the company on the site. There is general information (name, year of foundation, list of categories, presentation materials, including catalogues). More details - when you go to the site of the company itself.
International B2B platforms
15. Compass
Website: https://www.kompass.com/
Number of suppliers: more than 60 million companies.
Countries: more than 70 countries.
Search criteria: industry, product, location.
Features. Company size, turnover, number of employees in the profile. No direct access to managers or through social networks.
16. EC21
Website: https://www.ec21.com/
Number of partners: more than 2 million.
Countries: China, USA, Turkey, South Korea and others, 170 countries in total.
Search criteria: product, seller,, buyer, product category, location.
Features. There is no mandatory data filling for everyone. Chinese companies give more details. But no showrooms, 360 reviews, virtual tours.
17. ExportHub
Website: https://www.exporthub.com/
Number of suppliers: over 700,000
Countries: over 190 countries.
Search criteria: product, supplier, buyer, product category, certification.
Features. There is little data in the company profile. Contacts open only after filling out the form. No product photos. Portal developer - USA.
Example of supplier data on exporthub.com
18. Industrystock
Website: https://www.industrystock.com
Number of companies: more than 500,000.
Countries: Germany, Austria, Poland and others, 170 countries in total.
Search criteria: product, supplier, product category, industry and region.
Features. There is little data about the company. Address, phone number freely available. List of goods. This is all that is available.
Example from the supplier database at industrystock.com
How to find suppliers from South America
19. B2Brazil
Website: https://www.b2brazil.com/)
Number of suppliers: more than 100,000.
Countries: Brazil, China, Germany and others.
Search criteria: product, product category, location, certification.
Features. Profile includes annual turnover, export share, number of employees. There are a lot of Chinese companies in the field of equipment and finished goods supply.
Databases of companies publishing engineering solutions
20. Traceparts
Website: https://www.traceparts.com
Number of suppliers: more than 1.3 million.
Countries: all over the world.
Search criteria: 3D models, CAD files, industry type, product specifications.
Features: library of 2D, 3D models, CAD solutions, product catalogues.
Conclusions
- In general, it can be said that Chinese platforms freely provide the most comprehensive data on a possible business partner and implement all the latest advances in online presentations and communications. In order to contact the company directly, you will need to register. In some cases, you can book a time and place to meet with a selected supplier directly from the site. Or the site itself will help you organise a business match - a business meeting with several business people at once.
- European and American partner sites provide in the open extremely scarce information, so extended data on potential counterparties will take much longer to find.
- Despite the abundance of information and the status of a verified supplier on the resource selection of business contacts, if you are thinking of concluding a contract on supply, still before you need to visit the company in person. In any case, we always do this. This allows you to see not only the production itself, but also to evaluate the products by simply taking them in your hands. It is also important that the chosen factory has a laboratory for testing the quality of products.
- Quite often, suppliers send product samples. You can take a risk and make a deal only based on the information you have studied on the Internet, taking into account the quality of the samples you receive. The downside is that they can take as long to arrive as the batch. And, of course, this still does not give an idea of the manufacturer's reliability in terms of fulfilling contractual obligations.
- Good suppliers are more likely to be found with the help of companies that specialize in importing hardware for industrial furniture and equipment. Contact Osnova-Market LLC, and we will arrange delivery directly from a trusted manufacturer!
Author: Andrey Alekseev
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Organisation of deliveries under the order from foreign enterprises