How To Buy Furniture Directly From Manufacturer
Buying furniture directly from furniture manufacturers is favored by many business decision-makers. It has benefits that working with distributors and wholesalers does not. Purchase prices from manufacturers are lower than from distributors and may be slightly higher than from wholesalers. But you have more flexible purchase options—to get the latest furniture styles or to customize unique furniture products. And if you buy in bulk, you can get a lower price. So let’s take a look at how to buy furniture directly from the manufacturer.
Table of Content
Search on Google
Searching for furniture manufacturers and buying directly from them on Google is the most direct and easiest way. Be aware, however, that you’ll get information from thousands of furniture manufacturers around the world, and it can be overwhelming.
Identify The Furniture Manufacturer’s Location
Do you want to work with a local furniture manufacturer or source from an overseas furniture manufacturer? Filtering the furniture manufacturers that meet your needs can help you further narrow the optional range of furniture manufacturers to find a suitable manufacturer more quickly.
For example, you can enter the keywords “furniture manufacturers from XX (a specific city or country)” in the search bar.
Determine The Main Products Of The Furniture Manufacturer
What kind of furniture do you need? Some furniture manufacturers may only specialize in producing sofas, tables, chairs, or beds. If you’re looking to source kitchen cabinets, then these furniture manufacturers above may not be for you.
Then, you can enter “kitchen cabinet manufacturers” to search, or how about adding the positioning mentioned above? That is, “kitchen cabinet manufacturers from XX”, for example:
Or you can just enter the specific type of furniture and get the corresponding furniture manufacturer. Keywords are always flexible.
Specify The Furniture Style For The Furniture Manufacturer
Some furniture manufacturers specialize in modern-style furniture, contemporary style, luxury style, or traditional style; these are distinguished by design style. The style can also be named according to the region, such as Italian style, American style, French style, Chinese style, Japanese style, and so on.
Enter the desired furniture style, for example: “modern/luxury/Italian-style kitchen cabinet manufacturers from XX”.
See What Services Furniture Manufacturers Offer
Working with an OEM, ODM, or OBM depends on your business needs and goals, such as white label, private label, full house furniture packages, and other services.
And the one-stop furniture purchasing services can facilitate and attract commercial partners. Through these services, you can buy or customize almost any furniture or other related products.
For example, if you want to buy and sell kitchen cabinets, your customers may need lights, appliances, windows, curtains, etc. to go with the kitchen cabinets. In this case, a one-stop furniture manufacturer is better suited to your needs than spending extra time looking for other sources to purchase from, especially if you are a villa homeowner and want to furnish the whole house with different furniture.
Type in “OEM/ODM/OBM/one-stop furniture manufacturers” or “custom kitchen cabinet manufacturers” to help you find an ideal furniture manufacturer faster.
By using these methods to narrow down the list of furniture manufacturers, you will find the right one more quickly. Of course, there are other methods, such as using the keywords provided by Google (which may be what other users are looking for).
Once you have selected a specific furniture manufacturer, go to their website, find their contact information in the navigation bar at the top or at the bottom of the page, and contact them for sourcing details.
Search Furniture Manufacturers by Online Platform
In addition to the above description of how to use Google to search for a furniture manufacturer to buy furniture directly, you can also do a straight search of online platforms to obtain furniture manufacturer information.
It requires that you look carefully to distinguish between furniture retailers and manufacturers.
You can also use the supply information provided by some platforms to find furniture manufacturers. For example, some platforms will list the brand or manufacturer of the furniture on the product detail page. You can then gather the relevant information to get in touch directly with the furniture manufacturer and buy furniture from them.
In addition to Googling, you can also find furniture manufacturers on LinkedIn and contact them for direct purchases. As a well-known business social networking platform, LinkedIn contains a lot of business information from all walks of life. If you put it to good use, you can easily make direct purchases from furniture manufacturers.
Choose a furniture manufacturer you’re interested in and go to their pages to learn more: send or leave them a message, visit their website, follow them, etc. It is a good idea to do as much research as possible about the furniture manufacturer before making a purchase.
Alibaba.com
Alibaba is a renowned large-scale B2B online trading platform that brings together suppliers or manufacturers from various industries and many places, mainly from China, which is often referred to as the “super factory”.
Here, you can find many quality furniture manufacturers and buy your desired furniture directly from them at budget-friendly prices.
After you have found some furniture manufacturers through the search box, pay attention to whether they have appropriate attributes, such as “Trade Assurance,” “Verified Pro Supplier,” “Super Month,” etc.
Furniture manufacturers with these attributes have a relatively good reputation, which means you have a higher chance of buying high-quality furniture.
You can also use the filter on the left to see if there are furniture manufacturers with “ISO,” “BSCI,” “FSC,” and other qualifications, so you can buy green and quality furniture directly from them.
After filtering the furniture manufacturers that meet your requirements, you can see their size, products, ratings, capabilities, and more. Chat with them now or contact them to buy furniture directly. Click on a manufacturer to go to their homepage for more information. Add furniture manufacturers you’re interested in to your favorites so you can shop around.
Global Sources
Similar to Alibaba, Global Sources is also a professional online B2B trading platform, and its suppliers are more widely distributed.
Similarly, use the filter on the left side of the page to select furniture manufacturers that meet your requirements. Once you have a list of furniture manufacturers, check to see if they produce the type of furniture you want to buy. You can also check to see if any of these furniture manufacturers’ export markets include your region. If they do, it means they know your area better and you can buy furniture faster and more smoothly.
Don’t forget that manufacturers with logos such as “Premier,” “Super,” “Advanced,” “Verified,” etc., have a higher reputation, and you can focus on and buy furniture from these furniture manufacturers. In addition, through the “360-degree VR” function provided by the furniture manufacturer, you can take an immersive tour online to learn more about them.
On the upper right side of the product and factory pictures, the date, location, and booth information of the manufacturer’s participation in the exhibition are displayed. If you have the conditions and time, you can directly visit and buy furniture.
Made-in-China
There are also many manufacturers from all walks of life listed on Made-in-China.
Look for the furniture manufacturers with the “Diamond member,” “Gold member,” and “Audited Supplier” logos and check their “Business Type,” “Main Products,” “Mgmt. Certification,” and “City/Province”. Find a furniture manufacturer that matches your requirements and contact them directly to buy furniture.
It is worth noting that the furniture manufacturing industry in Guangdong Province is relatively developed and the industrial chain is relatively complete, which can help you buy furniture efficiently and at favorable prices if the manufacturers are from this area. You can pay attention to the location of the furniture manufacturer you are interested in.
Click on a furniture manufacturer’s homepage to check their product types, quotations, qualifications, industrial scale and other information, send them information or make inquiries to buy furniture.
IndiaMART
IndiaMART is India’s largest online B2B marketplace, connecting buyers with suppliers. Like the above three B2B trading platforms, here you can get in touch with manufacturers anytime, anywhere and buy a range of furniture products directly, which is very convenient.
Use filters to select the type of furniture you need: office furniture, kitchen furniture, outdoor furniture, etc. Of course, you can also check the material, brand, and usage.
Click on a furniture manufacturer to learn more about its commercial nature, annual turnover, etc. In addition, manufacturers with the “IndiaMART Trust Seal Verified” and “IndiaMART Verified Exporter” logos deserve your attention a little more.
Visit Nearby Furniture Manufacturers And Buy Furniture Directly From Them
Instead of buying furniture from a manufacturer online or overseas, you may want to buy from a manufacturer in your local area.
You can search online for the nearest furniture store or industrial park, where there will be many furniture suppliers or manufacturers selling furniture products. Take the time to visit a few furniture manufacturers and get a thorough understanding before buying furniture from them.
Do you have friends who share information about furniture shows on social apps (e.g., on Facebook, Instagram, etc.)? If you see that a furniture exhibition is being held in your city, you can go to these exhibitions in your spare time to communicate with some furniture manufacturers face-to-face and get the latest information on buying furniture (the most popular type or style of furniture among local consumers). You might even get a discount!
When you are on the street, pay attention to whether some large furniture outlets have promotions organized by manufacturers. You may get useful information that will help you buy furniture directly from the manufacturer.
Conclusion
At this point, you probably already know how to buy furniture directly from the manufacturer. In fact, the above methods can be roughly boiled down to two: online or offline purchasing.
Advantages And Disadvantages Of Buying Furniture from Manufacturers Online Vs. Offline
Thanks to the development of the Internet, the situation in the past when you could only buy furniture from local brick-and-mortar furniture manufacturers no longer exists. In other words, you can get more information about furniture manufacturers through the Internet without having to visit them one by one in person. You can easily shop around at home and buy the furniture you want (e.g., the latest styles and complete varieties) at a good price.
Of course, there are disadvantages to buying furniture online. Unlike a brick-and-mortar manufacturer where you can see the furniture manufacturer’s products firsthand, you may buy furniture with defects through online purchasing channels. And plus, if the furniture purchased from overseas, it will involve more problems: cumbersome returns and exchanges, different exchange rates, restrictions on payment tools, tariff issues, etc.
Visiting multiple offline furniture manufacturers will undoubtedly take more time and effort, and you will be limited in the variety, design, and style of furniture you can get. But the advantage is that you can directly know the product quality and manufacturing level of the furniture manufacturer, so you can buy with peace of mind.
If You Want To Buy Furniture Online Directly From The Manufacturer
It’s wise to find a few furniture manufacturers online that you think are reliable and do your research before you buy.
For furniture manufacturers located in your country, you can schedule a showroom visit with them to confirm the quality of the products and what they look like in person. For overseas furniture manufacturers, if they are far away and it is inconvenient for you to go, you can place an order for furniture samples from them. Or you can visit their showroom in real time through online video conferencing.
Choose A Buying Method That Suits You
Choose the purchasing channel based on your actual situation. Try to get as much important information as possible when communicating with furniture manufacturers. For example, some furniture manufacturers offer customized furniture services, and you’ll need to know if there is a minimum order quantity.
In any case, dealing directly with furniture manufacturers requires more expertise and production management capabilities. Feel free to make a good use of the Internet or ask the professionals.
