If you are an importer, you probably know that there are two ways you can get goods from abroad. One is to get in touch directly with the manufacturer viz. the factory. The other way is to get in touch with a trading agency or company that acts as a representative on your behalf to deal with the supplier. There is a lot of difference between these two methods. When you are getting in touch with the manufacturers, you are dealing directly with the party that is responsible for making the goods. There is no middle man in this dynamic.

However, dealing with a trading company, or agent, is different. In this sort of dealing, you are not getting in touch directly with the manufacturers. Rather, you are obtaining the services of a person or party who acts as an intermediary between you and the manufacturer. This can be easy for a variety of reasons, and if given the choice, people may opt to go for a trader.

But here comes the twist. Normally, if it was clear that a certain company is a factory or a trader, it would be easy for the importer to make a choice and take his pick from either of the two options. The conundrum can arise when it is not clear whether a company is a trader or a factory. When such a situation arises, when you are unsure about whether the company is a trader or a factory, you need to ascertain the truth of the situation before conducting your business. While it is easy to simply get in touch with the respective party to make sure what their role is in the buying/selling process, there are some signs and indications that you can look for which show if a company is a trader or a factory.  

In this article, we are looking at some signs which you can look out for to identify whether a company is a trading agency or a manufacturer.

The Business Portfolio

A factory usually deals with the manufacturing of a specific product or commodity. There are different factories for plastic bags, hair bands, hair clips, and hairbrushes. There are not a lot of chances where you would see one factory going all around making a bunch of products altogether. There are different stages in a factory where different parts and components of the final product are assembled. Basically, this means that a factory focuses on ONE product that it produces in bulk.

If you are dealing with a factory, you will be able to see that their business portfolio will contain just one or two products. These products may be two different items produced in the course of a single manufacturing chain. If you are dealing with a factory that makes phones, chances are that you can get the full phone from the manufacturer as well as the battery or the screen etcetera.

But, on the other hand, if you are dealing with a trading company, you will see that they will probably have a vast array of items for sale. Since they are not a factory and they are the middle stage between the manufacturer and the consumer, they will have more items to offer. Take the example of a retail store. A store will stock in a whole bunch of stuff like laptops, phones, bags, stationery, medicine, edibles, and meat etcetera. But a factory will only provide one product since that is the only thing it is making.

If the party who you are dealing with has a meager number of offered items, you can take it as an indication that it is a factory.