8. Back to Sourcing

Lessons Learnt

As we proceed to make more terrariums, our materials are also starting to dwindle. The stuff we brought back from Malaysia were only enough to make about 5 products, and after the prototype sessions, we realised that we have to find a new reliable source for all our materials.

After much discussion, we have come to a conclusion that going to Malaysia every time for sourcing is a terrible idea. Let alone the time spent stuck in the Immigration Checkpoints, the place we went did not have a wide variety of unique figurines we were looking for. If we stick to sourcing from Malaysia, we will end up with very dull products and a lot of manpower costs (ie wasted Saturdays).

As such, it is better to search for a supplier in Singapore. Basically for a small scale business like ours, and as we aim to make every product unique, it is not realistic to purchase massive quantities from online stores like Alibaba. Moreover, as we see quality over price, it is much better if we can feel and see the raw materials before buying.

In the end, we found a warehouse shop in Singapore that sells everything we need- glass jars, figurines, sand, moss, etc. Not surprising, since it is a terrarium supplier shop to begin with.

Yeah, why didn't we think of this earlier... we are making terrariums, of course we should look out for terrarium supplier shops.

Well, in the end its still about saving costs. At the start, we were thinking, buying in bulk online will save us a lot of costs, especially if shipped from China. So I mentioned above why it is not a good idea; that we don't need that many materials, we don't have the manpower to make that many products, and we have no means to sell. Also we cannot guarantee the quality anymore.

Then, we thought of getting from Malaysia, because its still gonna be cheaper than getting from Singapore. Which, as said above, proved to be a bad idea too.

It looks like at least for our business, the cost savings from sourcing materials outside can never outweigh the inconveniences and problems they bring us. And where did that bring us? Back to Singapore.

New Supplier

The shop we chose to get from is called Zantelle. It sells basically everything we need. Its figurines are of wide variety, its glass jars of decent quality (at least much better than the ones we got from Alibaba and Lazada). The prices are slightly higher, but honestly we are saving a ton on manpower and removing lots of uncertainties in delivery time and material quality, and I think it is worth it. More importantly, the costs are still well within our budget, and if we decide to sell at our original price, the profit margin is still quite high. We estimate about $10 will be spent on raw materials, and another $10 will be on manpower, since a product probably takes an hour max to make. Our profit margin therefore will still be at a high 40+%.

Its kinda ironic, that in the end we settled our supplies back in Singapore. But it works the best for us.