23. Sourcing Products and Building Brands with Kian Golzari, Founder and CEO of Sourcing with Kian

Kian Golzari is the Founder and CEO of Sourcing with Kian. He’s designed, developed, sourced, and manufactured over 2,500 products. As the result of this breadth of firsthand experience and success, Kian has mentored over 200 Amazon entrepreneurs on better sourcing practices and won numerous international awards, including the 2017 Sunday Times Fast Track Award for Top 100 UK Companies in Export Growth.

With all those accolades, Kian brought his expertise to this episode of E-Commerce with Coffee?! to talk about how to develop, manufacture, and source products from China. Listen to the full episode and come with your notepad ready!

What to listen for:

• The interview opens with a look at how Kian got to be where he is. Listen to the full episode to hear how he came to source for the NBA, Olympic Games, the Ministry of Defense, and more.
• Kian speaks downright affectionately of the sourcing community, too. Over the last several years he’s jetted around the globe for speaking events, and the energy and excitement are infectious.
• Kian offers some direct advice for manufacturers who previously sold through distributors but now sell on Amazon and other direct channels. He asks, “are you branding or are you selling?” Listen to hear how he describes and differentiates (and prioritizes) these two activities.
• Kian prompts those same brands to define their core values, too. “It’s such an important part of the brand journey,” he affirms. If you haven’t established your core values, he cautions, “you don’t know your brand yet.”
• Kian also speaks to selling new and innovative products and how to test the waters on other channels before selling on Amazon. “You don’t get email addresses from Amazon,” Kian explains. You’ll therefore get better insights into your target consumers with better data feedback from purchases and conversions on another platform.
• A sizable portion of the interview looks at brands meeting sustainability and corporate responsibility expectations today. Consumers want brands to be conscientious, and Kian has boiled down to a science how brands can vet manufacturers based on these standards.
• Developing products is something Kian has down to a science, too. “The best way to develop products…is to have an understanding of how products are made,” he says, speaking to his own first experience visiting a factory in 2010. Listen to the full story to hear what he learned.
• Kian also gives listeners a detailed step-by-step on how to navigate Alibaba to source the best manufacturers. Listen in for the full breakdown—and be prepared to take notes!
• Kian also talks about some of the most important websites for sourcing research, including Alibaba, GlobalSources.com, Import Yeti, and IndiaMart.com.
• When vetting product sources, there are three key things brands should focus on, says Kian: pre-shipment inspections, sellers outgrowing their suppliers, and “realizing that there’s profit in the buying price and not just in the selling price.”
• The interview wraps with Kian describing what it’s been like to see the growth of commerce, nightlife, tourism, and more in Shanghai and throughout China since he first visited. Being around that kind of growth, he says, creates a growth attitude in you, too.