How to Source Products for Your Online Store Guide
Product sourcing is the process of finding, vetting, and securing suppliers for the products you sell. It covers everything from choosing a sourcing method (wholesale, manufacturing, dropshipping) to evaluating factories, ordering samples, and managing ongoing supplier relationships. Your sourcing strategy directly determines your margins, product quality, and ability to scale.
At Cosmo Sourcing, we've helped over 4,000 clients source more than 10,000 products from factories across Vietnam, China, Mexico, and Southeast Asia. This guide draws on that experience to provide you with a clear, practical roadmap for sourcing products, whether you're launching your first product or diversifying your supply chain.
Updated Feb 20, 2026
Product Sourcing Methods
Product sourcing is how you acquire the products your business sells, whether that's purchasing finished goods from a wholesaler, commissioning custom products from a manufacturer, or partnering with a dropshipper who handles fulfillment. This guide focuses on the practical how: which sourcing methods work best for different business models, how to find and vet suppliers, and how to manage the process from first quote to delivered product.
Most successful online sellers use some combination of the methods below, depending on their product type and growth stage.
Working Directly with Manufacturers
Sourcing directly from manufacturers gives you the most control over your products. You can develop custom products built to your specifications (private label) or apply your branding to existing product designs (white label). This approach typically offers the best unit pricing on larger orders and lets you differentiate from competitors selling identical wholesale products.
The tradeoff is that manufacturing requires more upfront investment, longer lead times, and hands-on management of the production process. If you're sourcing internationally, which most product-based businesses eventually do, you're also dealing with language barriers, time zone differences, and the challenge of evaluating factories you can't easily visit.
This is where working with a sourcing company like Cosmo Sourcing adds real value. We visit factories, verify capabilities, collect and compare quotes, manage sampling, and oversee quality control on the ground. I've personally toured hundreds of factories across Vietnam, from textile mills in Ho Chi Minh City to furniture workshops in Binh Duong to ceramics producers in the northern provinces. That kind of firsthand knowledge is hard to replicate from behind a laptop.
For a deeper walkthrough on the manufacturing route, see our guide to finding manufacturers.
Wholesale Suppliers
Wholesale sourcing means buying existing products in bulk at discounted prices and reselling them at a markup. It's one of the fastest ways to stock a store because the products already exist. You skip product development entirely and go straight to selling.
The downside is limited differentiation. You're often selling the same products as other retailers, so you're competing primarily on price, marketing, and customer experience rather than product uniqueness. You also need enough capital to buy inventory upfront and somewhere to store it.
Wholesale works well for sellers testing new product categories, resellers on Amazon and other marketplaces, and businesses that move high volumes in established product niches.
Dropshipping
Dropshipping lets you list products for sale without holding inventory. When a customer places an order, your supplier ships the product directly to them. This eliminates inventory risk and minimizes startup costs, which is why it's popular with new sellers.
The major limitations are thin margins, limited quality control, and reliance on your supplier's shipping speed. You're also selling products available to every other dropshipper using the same supplier, which makes it difficult to build a recognizable brand.
Dropshipping can be a useful way to test product demand before investing in inventory, but most sellers who build long-term businesses eventually transition to wholesale purchasing or direct manufacturing.
Trade Shows
Trade shows remain one of the best ways to discover suppliers and evaluate products in person. Events such as the Canton Fair (China), the Vietnam Manufacturing Expo, and industry-specific shows around the world bring manufacturers, suppliers, and buyers together under one roof.
At a trade show, you can see product quality firsthand, meet the people behind the factory, and often negotiate better terms face-to-face than you would over email. I've attended dozens of trade shows across Asia and consistently found that five minutes of in-person conversation reveals more about a supplier than weeks of back-and-forth messaging.
Creating Your Own Products
Some sellers make their own products, whether handmade goods, food products, or small-batch items. This gives you complete control over quality and branding, and it works well for artisan or niche businesses. The challenge is scalability. As demand grows, you'll likely need to transition some or all of your production to a manufacturer.
Where to Find Suppliers Online
Beyond the methods above, several online platforms connect buyers with suppliers and manufacturers worldwide.
Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace, connecting buyers with manufacturers and wholesalers primarily in China. It has millions of product listings and suppliers, but the sheer volume means you need to vet anyone you consider working with carefully. Verified supplier badges help, but they're not a substitute for requesting samples, checking references, and doing your due diligence.
Global Sources is another major B2B platform focused on Asia-based suppliers. It tends to feature slightly more established manufacturers than Alibaba and also publishes market research and sourcing reports that can be useful for product research.
ThomasNet focuses on North American suppliers and is particularly strong for industrial products, components, and specialty manufacturing. If you need domestic sourcing in the US or Canada, this is a solid starting point.
IndiaMART connects buyers with manufacturers and suppliers across India, covering everything from textiles and jewelry to industrial equipment.
While these platforms are useful for discovery, they're just a starting point. The real work begins when you start communicating with suppliers, requesting quotes, and evaluating their capabilities. A platform listing tells you what a supplier says they can do. Samples, factory audits, and references tell you what they actually deliver.
How to Work with a Sourcing Company
A product sourcing company acts as your on-the-ground partner in a foreign market. Unlike a trading company (which buys products and resells them to you at a markup), a sourcing company works on your behalf to find, vet, and manage suppliers while you maintain direct factory relationships.
Here's what the process looks like when you work with Cosmo Sourcing:
Define your product requirements. Before we start, we need clear specifications: dimensions, materials, finishes, packaging, target price, and order quantity. The more detailed your brief, the more accurate the quotes we collect will be. If you're early in product development, we can help refine your specifications based on what's realistic for your budget and target market.
Receive and compare factory quotes. We send your specifications to multiple vetted factories and present you with original quotes, typically from two to six suppliers. You see the actual factory pricing with no hidden markups or commissions. This is a core part of our pricing model: a transparent flat fee per project, so our incentive is always to find you the best factory, not the one that pays us the highest commission.
Order and evaluate samples. Always order samples before committing to production. We coordinate the sampling process, ship samples to you, and help you evaluate quality, finish, and accuracy against your specifications. Sample revisions are common and expected. It's far cheaper to get it right at this stage than to discover problems after a full production run.
Manage production and quality control. Once you approve samples and place a production order, we monitor the process and conduct quality inspections. For our clients producing apparel in Vietnam, for example, we'll check fabric quality before cutting, inspect workmanship during production, and do a final pre-shipment inspection before goods leave the factory.
Coordinate shipping. We work with freight forwarders to get your products to their final destination, whether that's your warehouse, an Amazon FBA center, or anywhere else. We provide shipping quotes and oversee the process to keep things on track.
Best Countries for Sourcing Products (Beyond China)
China remains the world's largest manufacturing hub, but a growing number of businesses are diversifying their supply chains. Tariffs, supply chain risk, rising Chinese labor costs, and geopolitical uncertainty have all pushed businesses to explore alternatives. For a detailed country-by-country breakdown, see our global product sourcing guide.
Here's a quick overview of the strongest alternatives:
Vietnam has become the leading alternative to China for many product categories, including apparel, footwear, furniture, bags, and home goods. Labor costs remain competitive, the manufacturing base has matured significantly, and Vietnam has favorable trade agreements with many major economies. Our main office is in Ho Chi Minh City, and our team has an extensive network of over 14,000 vetted factories nationwide.
Mexico's proximity to the US market means shorter lead times and lower shipping costs. It's particularly strong in automotive parts, electronics, textiles, and packaging. The USMCA trade agreement provides duty benefits for qualifying goods, making Mexico attractive to businesses that sell primarily in North America. Cosmo Sourcing also has a team in Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
India is a major producer of textiles, apparel, leather goods, and jewelry. It offers competitive pricing and strong craftsmanship, especially for handmade and artisanal products. Supply chain infrastructure can be more challenging to navigate than in Vietnam or China.
Indonesia excels in furniture, textiles, footwear, and handicrafts. Its competitive labor costs and growing infrastructure make it a good option for businesses looking for artisanal or natural-material products.
Bangladesh is one of the world's largest apparel exporters, offering very competitive pricing for garment production. Quality control and ethical sourcing compliance require close attention.
Turkey has strong capabilities in textiles, apparel, and leather goods, with the geographic advantage of serving both European and Middle Eastern markets.
Product Sourcing Best Practices
After working on thousands of sourcing projects, these are the practices that consistently separate successful sourcing outcomes from expensive mistakes.
Always order samples before production. This is non-negotiable. Samples let you verify quality, check dimensions, test materials, and evaluate the supplier's attention to detail. Never commit to a production run based solely on photos, catalog images, or verbal promises.
Vet your suppliers beyond the platform listing. Request references from other buyers. Ask for factory certifications and audit reports. If possible, visit the factory or hire someone to inspect it on your behalf. A legitimate manufacturer will welcome scrutiny. One that resists it is waving a red flag.
Get everything in writing. Specifications, pricing, payment terms, production timelines, quality standards, and remedies for defects should all be documented before production starts. International sourcing relationships depend on clear written agreements, not handshake deals.
Don't rely on a single supplier. Having at least two qualified suppliers for critical products protects you from disruptions. Factory shutdowns, raw material shortages, and capacity constraints happen. Diversification keeps your supply chain resilient.
Negotiate strategically, not aggressively. The goal isn't to squeeze the lowest possible price out of a factory. Push too hard, and you'll get lower quality materials, less attention from the production team, or a supplier who cuts corners. Fair pricing that works for both sides builds long-term relationships. For specific tactics, see our guide to negotiating with suppliers.
Invest in quality control. Pre-shipment inspections are worth every dollar. Catching defects before products leave the factory is dramatically cheaper than dealing with returns, negative reviews, and brand damage after they reach customers.
Start with realistic expectations. First orders rarely go perfectly. There's a learning curve as you and your supplier align on expectations. Build in time for revisions, and don't order your maximum quantity on a first production run.
Ready to Source Smarter? Work With Cosmo Sourcing!
Cosmo Sourcing helps businesses find the right manufacturers in Vietnam, China, Mexico, and beyond. With a flat-fee pricing model, original factory quotes with no hidden markups, and direct factory introductions, we make international sourcing transparent and accessible. Since 2012, we've helped businesses ranging from first-time entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 companies source over 10,000 products.
Get in touch to start your sourcing project:
Email: info@cosmosourcing.com
Contact form: cosmosourcing.com/contact-us