Lori Boyer 00:00
Welcome back to Unboxing Logistics. I’m your host, Lori Boyer of EasyPost. Folks, we are in the thick of holiday season. I hope you’re surviving. I hope you are not just surviving. I hope you’re thriving and having a wonderful peak season. I know that for a lot of us we’re, we’re buried in the orders and, and the shipments and everything right now, but it’s not too early to be thinking 2026, what are your plans coming out of, of Q4?
So we’re gonna be talking about sourcing today. I know it’s a big topic for a lot of you, and I have brought on my friend Mattia, from Alibaba.com, who knows everything you could possibly want to know about sourcing, and he is gonna answer all of our questions.
Mattia, can you introduce yourself a little bit to our, our Unboxing Logistics family?
Mattia Miglio 00:55
Hi Lori. Thanks for having me and for having Alibaba.com. It’s, it’s pleasure and honor to be part of your podcast. I watch many of your episodes, so we’re very thrilled to, to share our knowledge with, with your clients and audience.
Lori Boyer 01:13
Fantastic. That is awesome. Okay. We are closing up this season of the podcast, and one question we’ve been asking this season that I wanna ask you as well is, who is a person or even a role that you really admire in this industry? And, and tell us a little bit about that.
Mattia Miglio 01:32
I admire right now anyone that can transform AI into a person. We are launching a lot of new AI features and sometimes these features don’t sold on a person. So anyone in the industry and any platform, any, any client, any member that can transform AI in a more human being that is like, like my, my my role model right now.
Lori Boyer 02:07
I love that.
That’s totally a unique take and I am super all about that. People, if you are those AI heroes of ours out there, ’cause I think that’s so true, there’s so many tools, there’s amazing, really cool uses of AI, let us know in the comments or shoot me an email. What are you doing? How is it working? What have your successes been?
Yeah, I would love to hear. Maybe we can even have some of you come on the podcast and tell us about what you’re doing. That sounds fantastic. Okay, Mathia to our topic. Let’s talk sourcing. I talk to different brand, shippers all the time, okay. And sourcing can be a little bit of a stress. What are you seeing, or kind of, especially in that kind of typical mid-size ecommerce, but even down to the little small ones, what are people really stressed about when it comes to sourcing?
Mattia Miglio 03:05
Lori, as you know, I work for Alibaba.com. That is the largest marketplace in the world when it comes to B2B. Many of, in the US, our platform is still conceived as a platform to source product from China and from from Asia in general. Right now we have more than 200,000 sellers from 200 countries and regions, and we have more than 200 millions products.
I come from Italy, that’s my, my own country. Thousands of, of Italian brands and European brands that are selling through Alibaba.com. Today, sourcing is global. The supply chain is global. So for a medium sized business, sometimes is very challenging not only to understand how the supply chain works but also to understand the supplier that we have in our platform, but usually their procurement office, they don’t have a procurement office. So we need to understand who’s the best supplier, who can ship the product in time, how to verify the supplier is reliable. What kind of feedbacks are our buyers posting? So that’s why when I, when I said at the beginning, when my, my role model is someone that can personalize the, humanize AI. We are doing this in Alibaba.
We are supporting micro and small businesses with our AI tools that really understand what our small businesses are facing right now. A lot of them need to change their, their, their suppliers. They need suppliers that are local, that are here in the US, but also that are from, from other countries and regions.
So our goal is really to be a partner, a human partner with AI tools to, to any company that, that, that needs support when it comes to sourcing.
Lori Boyer 05:12
Yeah. So it sounds like what I’m hearing is you’re seeing companies who are really stressed with not having the knowledge, the understand, I mean, supply chain is massively complex.
Trust me. If you’re feeling like you don’t get it, I don’t get it either half the time, and I’ve been in the industry and, and done all the reading. So super complex, and it’s changing a lot. We see changes all the time. You know, when I get people say, should I be moving my sourcing away from China into other countries?
Should I be not? Should I just be domestic within my own country, whatever that country may be. What changes have you seen that you feel like maybe over the last, three to five years. You know, what, what are the biggest changes that you’ve noticed?
Mattia Miglio 05:55
A lot of changes. I started my career 25 years ago, and I was supporting Italian companies to export all over the world.
And we were organizing trade shows, trade missions in China here in the US, across the globe and the needed assistance in different way. Today AI is a revolution. I always say that in in the past we had three important period. The first one is, was internet that was enabled everyone in the world to communicate instantly.
Lori Boyer 06:39
Mattia, you and I are almost like pre-internet at this stage. We’re getting old, right?
Mattia Miglio 06:44
Yes.
Lori Boyer 06:45
Early career was early internet, yeah.
Mattia Miglio 06:47
Yes. And everyone was in the same position of the first time a company from, from China could communicate directly here in the US. And actually Alibaba.com was created in 1999 because our founder was looking for beer in in, in a search engine and he couldn’t find any Chinese beer.
So he decided to build Alibaba.com to be like this this this platform where companies all from all over the world could find Chinese suppliers. Now, as I said, we, we are a global platform. The second revolution that that I, that I see where companies from all over the world were put in the same position was COVID. Everywhere in the world companies had to face this, this challenge. And the third revolution is AI. Because AI is revolutionizing how businesses are doing ecommerce, and especially B2B ecommerce. That’s why we are changing our platform. Each single feature is now being redesigned.
As many, many of you know that in our, in our group we are developing our AI platforms. So these platform are really supporting small businesses to select the right suppliers, to understand who is the right supplier, to understand if their idea where it’s is, is white. Maybe you want to launch a makeup line in in the United States and you don’t know the colors, you don’t know what kind of packaging, what kind of certifications.
So our platform right now enables all companies to have a better understanding of the business plan. And the second part is to communicate with with suppliers from all over the world. So we have launched in our platform two features. That one is called Co-pilot. Basically the Co-pilot can support our our our buyers, our, any, any businesses that is looking to buy products directly on Alibaba in any communication, any request for quotation in understanding. Maybe you want to purchase a thousand chairs, but you don’t know which chairs are trendy or which colors you’re in the US are currently.
So, so our platform really support in creating a, a request for quotation for you and will highlight if you’re missing, for example, certification, time of delivery, any information that, that it, it really can, can support to receive the right quotation, but also our AI now can compare quotation for you, can create the image of your product that you have in your mind and also can support the comparison of different quotations.
It will tell you, will guide you enough to understand which is the best supplier for you.
Lori Boyer 10:02
Okay, so you’re the AI, so where you’re seeing AI being really big in sourcing really has to do with, it can help, like let’s just pretend I’m a, a random brand and I’m going out and I say, you know, I’m wanting to make a scrunchie company, you know, to sell hair scrunchies.
But I dunno where, what supplier I should go. So the AI would then give me a list of options of supply, or do what I put in like, here’s all the kinds of things that I’m thinking that I want from scrunchies and, and you know, all the stats, and then it, it brings up comparisons based on like what data, I guess.
What, where is the AI piece come in? I’m, I’m curious about that.
Mattia Miglio 10:44
Okay. We have two solutions right now. One that is really focused in supporting more what, what we call creators, anyone that has an idea to launch, to launch a product. This platform is called accio.com so it’s A C C I O .com. And basically is our new sourcing agent.
We’ll work with you to understand if your idea is suitable for the market. We give you recommendation on what kind of products are already in the market, the price range, and then we guide you to to create and to search the best suppliers for, for your product.
Lori Boyer 11:31
So it gives you a little bit of kind of market research. Competitors, all of that. Okay.
Mattia Miglio 11:36
And then we, we recommend you some suppliers. And these suppliers are not only from Alibaba.com, as I mentioned, we have 200,000 suppliers. Those are from our sister companies. We recently invested in the largest B2B marketplace in Europe that is called Visible. So all suppliers, 2 million suppliers from, from Europe that are listed invisible, that are the Europe, Euro pages, if any one of you is, is, is familiar with Euro pages, you can find suppliers from from, from Europe as well.
And we will open to any B2B store in the net. So as, as a, as a creator, as a new entrepreneur, you’re searching for products, we can recommend the right product for you, no matter if it is in Alibaba or anywhere anywhere else in the net.
Lori Boyer 12:30
Okay. That makes sense. So let’s talk about sourcing strategies in general. So, you know, you’ve got an ecommerce company out there. They’re trying to sell let’s say their sourcing strategy, they don’t really have one maybe. I, I honestly, that’s probably where it starts about half the time. There’s not really a strategy, sort of throwing things at the wall and seeing if it sticks.
Let’s say they’re in that position, what are your recommendations for them? Or maybe they do have like, okay, we’re using these suppliers, I’ve used ’em for a long time, prices are going up, or I’m seeing more fee. You know, how do you develop a really good strategy around your suppliers and your sourcing?
Mattia Miglio 13:11
Yeah. First thing that I always say is to do a competitor analysis. Your price, compare your price point with other brands and other companies there that are selling a similar or comparable product to yours. Based on that, you can really understand that if your your price, your costs in production are, are, are feasible. And are the right now.
The second point is to find the right suppliers. How to find the right supplier, as I mentioned, we support with AI. It takes time to understand. Knowledge is, is is quite important. That’s why AI really understand the needs of of buyers. We have verified suppliers on Alibaba.com. These verified suppliers are not only verified by by, by Alibaba. But we, they are verified by third party agencies like certification companies like SGS, Veritas, TUV in in Europe.
This company certify not only that the company exists, that is a legit company, but also that their R and D capacity, their certification their manufacturing plants and so on.
Lori Boyer 14:35
Mattia is it kind of common that there’s just fraud out there, that there are fake companies? Like how big are the, the risks when you’re kind of just searching out suppliers?
Mattia Miglio 14:47
I strongly recommend always to do a supplier assessment. We have also some, some podcasts, some webinars on how to, to vet the suppliers, as I mentioned.
Our suppliers are vetted. My recommendation is always to check with a verified supplier badge to see the reviews from, from our from our, from other buyers. Also the star rating system of a company for how long this company has been in active suppliers in our platform in Alibaba.com.
Lori Boyer 15:25
Okay. If you just started two months ago, maybe I should be a little worried. Or if nobody else has ever reviewed you, that’s a concern. And, and somewhere that, you know, I, I would just, I would hate for companies to lose everything because they pick the wrong supplier. So, okay. I kind of interrupted you, so I wanna make sure we’re, we’re back on track.
So you said strategy number one, competitive analysis. Number two, really making sure that you’re finding the right suppliers, the right sourcing. Was there more?
Mattia Miglio 15:56
Yes. And multiple suppliers.
Lori Boyer 15:58
Oh, it’s a multiple suppliers, a recommendation here, don’t rely on one supplier.
Mattia Miglio 16:03
Even if you rely on, you build this a long-term relationship, I always recommend to find the right partner, not a supplier.
So when, when you start, always start with a small quantity. And then these relationships should should go for, for the long term. But always compare prices. Always have a backup plan. We saw what happened with COVID where the disruption of global supply chains, but also because you never know if there is a better supplier.
And what we are seeing Alibaba, what I, what what I said at the beginning, internet, COVID The third one is AI. We say that we are seeing a democratization of AI. The use of AI in our platform by small and medium sized businesses is rising, in least developed countries, of developing countries. The rate that small businesses are using AI, for example, in Southeast Asia, in India, in Africa, and in Latin America, it reaches the 85% of our features.
While here in the US or 60% and in Europe is less. That means that there are a lot of new suppliers that are using AI, that have new products, that have a new solution for your business.
Lori Boyer 17:36
Do you have a rule of thumb of how many, I mean, is two suppliers enough? Are you saying you should have 27 supplier? You know, where is the happy kind of situation?
Mattia Miglio 17:45
Well, it really depends on the, on, on the business and the industry.
Lori Boyer 17:50
Everyone always says that Mattia.
Mattia Miglio 17:53
Yeah. I, I, I know you, you, you, you, you know that I’m an expert in, in the beauty industry. I used to be the global marketing director for Cosmoprof. So I know a lot of beauty companies. And they’re always asking me how many suppliers should I have for the secondary packaging or for the primary packaging? Always say at least three.
Lori Boyer 18:16
Okay, so at least three.
Mattia Miglio 18:17
At least three, yeah. Always compare. Always compare.
Lori Boyer 18:21
And how often should you be switching it up?
Mattia Miglio 18:23
It really depends. If you’re happy with usual suppliers, don’t. But always maybe for gadgets, more for miniature products. If you wanna stay again in, in the beauty industry, try to to challenge your partner with other suppliers, and this is my, my recommendation. It’s isn’t our job, isn’t our job. It, it, it works because if, if COVID happens or if there is a change in that we are seeing.
Lori Boyer 18:55
I talked to so many experts and so many to say it’s kind of the norm instead of an anomaly now is like, we just had to be ready, that probably your supply chain’s gonna get disrupted somewhere.
Whether it’s a natural disaster or a war or a fighting and tariffs and who knows, right? There’s just stuff going on.
Mattia Miglio 19:13
Also, logistic costs are, are a big component if you are importing products or even if you are sending products throughout the US, if your suppliers are here in a, in the US or in other parts of the world.
Logistic costs are, are a big component. So if you find another supplier and this can reduce your logistic costs, that will have, will have an impact.
Lori Boyer 19:36
So that makes me think so, I mean, ’cause you mentioned, well if you’re happy with your supplier, stay with them. But should I like every six months be looking to see if there’s a better deal or every year or, I don’t wanna think like, oh I love my suppliers and not realize that I am actually overpaying ’cause I haven’t checked.
Mattia Miglio 19:53
After you do your competitive analysis, after I, I, I, if, if you don’t have a procurement team really check for at least let’s say two, two more suppliers, one closer to you, and one with an with more innovative approach. I think that that can be a a good number for a small businesses.
Always, always open your eyes. Go to trade shows, search on Alibaba and compare your products with, with your competitors.
Lori Boyer 20:29
You totally made me light up when you said that look for someone with an innovative approach, because that is a key element for every business. So if you’re listening out there, a little portion of whatever you’re doing.
I say the same with shippers. You know, we deal with, I mean with our carriers, a little bit, should be trying out something new and trying something innovative. You know, you don’t want the bulk, you don’t want 90% of your product to be coming through an innovative source, but a little bit should be trying out because you never know when you may just find an incredible, you know, method or, or an incredible opportunity.
I like that as well, that you said to bring, you know, maybe one a little bit closer to home. When people do switch things up, when they’re switching suppliers or maybe regions or what, what things kind of surprise them or catch them off guard or maybe are they not prepared for?
Mattia Miglio 21:19
Yeah. Right now, Alibaba.com is the most downloaded ad in in Google. And I am not saying these as, as a spot, a commercial, but I really want to say it because companies here in the US are diversifying their, their suppliers. We’re seeing that is we are, we have five offices now across the US to really stay close to, to our clients.
We have over 21 million clients here in the US. So we had large customer base, from micro small businesses to favorite buyers that are creators, that are companies, entrepreneurs, young entrepreneurs that are launching new products, to the big retailers that are sort, sourcing for for, for their products.
Lori Boyer 22:09
Okay, great. So if somebody switches, they, you know, maybe they found, they see, wow, this supplier looks great, this price is amazing. Are there red flags that maybe, I, I’m a little bit of a skeptic here, so I’m always like, is it too good to be true? You know, what is a red flag that this supplier is maybe too good to be true?
And I should, I should proceed cautiously.
Mattia Miglio 22:33
Anyone should do a supplier assessment no matter if you’re searching for a product on Alibaba, any other platform, even in a trade show. You need to know, you need to check the reviews and everything that I, that I said before. With the red flags, it really, it really depends.
Always ask for samples. If you are example, your, your, that is, is the first part. If you are a beauty brand, for example you can ask for not customized samples. Then you can go to customized samples, and then you place the first order with minimal quantities, and then if you’re happy, you can, you can, you can scale up.
Also, I, we see a lot of buyers there are now because they need to diversify. They’re also traveling. We recently opened a new office in Mexico City. So we have a lot of US companies that are now going directly to check the factories. A lot of fashion companies are diversifying here in the US as well.
We are you mentioned sourcing, that is a topic of to today’s podcast but we have now thousands of US companies that are selling through Alibaba.com because US companies are searching for products that are already here in the US. They’re stocked here in the US so we are welcoming a lot of brands that wants to sell wholesale here in the US.
Or they want to find a distributor, a retailer, an importer in other parts of the world. As I mentioned, I’m Italian. We have a lot of Italian brands that are selling through Alibaba.com, B2B wholesale here in the United States from best wine to pasta to biscuits. So if you’re interested also, you can buy, if you wanna buy in bulk, you can even go to Alibaba.com to buy Italian products or French products in bulk.
Lori Boyer 24:49
Oh, that’s really interesting. So. If you, I was thinking, as you mentioned sending the samples. Love that, love that walkthrough of, you know, and, and also visiting. I am such a huge proponent of getting your boots on the ground and kind of seeing what’s going on in warehouses and, and making those decisions.
But at the same time, there’s kind of a wanting to do it fast, that sort of speed to market idea. How do you recommend balancing like kind of quality control with speed to try to be making sure that you’re, you’re getting to your customers as quickly as you want?
Mattia Miglio 25:25
Quality control, as I mentioned, is samples and that, that very, very crucial.
Lori Boyer 25:32
So never bypass that step.
Mattia Miglio 25:34
Never, never, never bypass that. Always ask if, if you’re not a hundred percent sure if a company is, is legit, we are here to support. So we can call the company, we can organize Zoom calls, meeting with them. Our team is here to support also verify their certifications.
We, as you know, we, we have 200,000 suppliers just in Alibaba. But also if you’re searching for, for supplier in our platform, always ask for copy of your certifications and double check this, this certification. And then there are the payment terms. So quality is, is important. You can check quality, but then it comes to payment terms and delivery time.
Compare, if you compare, you understand the price range. So usually there is not such a big difference. Secondly, compare the, the delivery time. You need a partner that can deliver not only for one order, but you are, you are looking to build a long-term relationship. So you need to understand that their R and D capacity, their their manufacturing capacity because in peak seasons, like double 11, they just ended in in China or or Thanksgiving or Christmas time. You really need to check if your suppliers can end all peak seasons.
Lori Boyer 27:10
So I wanna learn a little bit about how it works at Alibaba.com and what it would be like if I were, you know, a seller or something and I were using you. Do I, so the AI, for instance, you mentioned making, comparing all of those sort of contract pieces, the, you know, the cost, but also the service level and the time, and do your AI tools like kind of put those comparisons together for me I guess how does that work when I’m doing that comparing process through you?
Mattia Miglio 27:42
We have multiple ways. The first one, you can if you find a product on Alibaba.com, you already know the products that you that you’re looking for. You can send a, a direct inquiry to the supplier after you did your sub, your sub supplier assessment.
If you don’t know if you, because there are too many suppliers and you want to compare different quotation, we have what we call the, RFQ Marketplace, Request for Quotation Marketplace. Our AI will support you to edit and to create also images of, of your product. If you don’t have already, you’re just an idea.
You want to, to, to launch a new product. And we will work with you to understand your business. Always remember that AI are conversational tools. So you you need to explain your business. It’s not just posting a request for quotation. And the request for quotation, you usually give one or two weeks, and different suppliers will answer to their request for quotation.
And we, we can send you direct messages in our AI tool. We compare all these quotation for you. We create also a nice table with with a different features and we compare the, your, your needs with with the supplier’s quotation.
Lori Boyer 29:13
Okay, cool. So as well, once I’ve selected my suppliers and I’m working with them, do I work with them directly?
Do I somehow go through Alibaba.com? How, how does that relationship look?
Mattia Miglio 29:25
You can do both. Our we don’t take any commissional sales. This is something that a lot of small businesses don’t know. Our business model is very different from any other ecommerce platform. We are a B2B platform. So Lori, imagine you need to buy a machinery from Germany.
You will never transact, probably hundred of thousand of dollars through an ecommerce platform. So you probably need a contract. You probably need delivery time. You need payment terms that cannot be transact in a platform. Majority of, of, of, of a transaction, of a order that don’t happen in Alibaba.com.
And we will tell you more how we make money because that’s, that’s the question that usually a small business ask me. But if you are a small business and maybe you’re looking for packaging from a suppliers now in Vietnam because we see a rise of packaging manufacturers in, in in Vietnam.
The first thing to do is to to ask for samples. You can order the samples directly through Alibaba.com. You can pay for the sample in case the suppliers will ask you for the the logistic costs, u usually for for international achievement. And then you have to place a first order, the first quantity, and I strongly recommend that for the first orders to use Alibaba.com.
We don’t take any commission on sales, so really speak with a supplier, but you find me Alibaba.com. I strongly recommend to keep the communication in our system because if you place your order on Alibaba.com, you can use our trade assurance. The trade assurance is a program that support especially small, small businesses to to order to place the first order on Alibaba.com and is money back guarantee.
So if a product arrives here in the US. With low quality, with different the delivery time, it really can, can support a small business. And then when you establish a partnership, a relationship with yourself, use supplier, you can work on payment terms and different ways to, to, to transact in place orders.
Lori Boyer 32:02
That’s great. I love that because one of the things I do recommend, especially when we’re dealing with all of the challenges in the world out there, is to work closely with your suppliers and to create a great relationship with them where your partnerships and you’re managing all these challenges together.
And so I love that, how it’s like you kind of set up the relationship, you get it going, you make sure it’s safe and secure, and you’re there if they need you, but you can also deal with it. We’re running late on time, but I want to hear from you. Are there any other things that you feel like people would want to know about Alibaba.com or about just sourcing in general, tips for them before we close out today?
Mattia Miglio 32:40
Yes. Sourcing is just one part of being an eco B2B, ecommerce company. So you need also so to think to sell your products. And selling B2B today is also through ecommerce platforms. I find a lot of US companies that they don’t know Alibaba.com as a new sales channel. And also as a data platform.
These are two ways that a company especially buyers. The, in the US we have 21 million buyers, but we don’t have 21 million sellers. And the reason why, because they don’t understand, especially today, buyers in you, the US we are looking for products that are already here in the United States. So if you’re a brand, you’re a manufacturer, private label manufacturer, you have a incredible opportunity right now because brands here in the US retailers, importer distributors, are looking for what we call US local stock org. So if you’re interested, we also have a special program with EasyPost.
We support your clients, Lori, to onboard free of charge and selling all sale on Alibaba.com because how we make money, we make money through memberships. We sell membership to to brands, to manufacturers, to any supplier that wants to open a storefront. Is it your membership? And thanks to Easy Pause is complimentary. So we have 25, I think left membership that can, we can give away. So sourcing is just one one.
Lori Boyer 34:34
EasyPost customers, really great opportunity.
We love this partnership with Alibaba.com. They really have a lot of opportunities for you as shippers, as ecommerce sellers out there. So how can they find out Mattia more information? What, where, where should they go if they are interested in that?
Mattia Miglio 34:53
As I said, I love relationship building, relationship and network.
So you can add me on LinkedIn. I, I am very active on LinkedIn, so feel free to reach out to me through LinkedIn. Also EasyPost has my email address, but it’s really easy. Is my name dot, last name Alibaba, inc.com. So it is very. It’s very easy to remember. I am I love to support, especially small businesses when they start sourcing or selling through Alibaba.com and we have a team here in the US that is an amazing team.
Lori Boyer 35:33
I love it. The small businesses, you know, secretly my favorites out there. I, oh, just a special place for small businesses in my heart too. Mattia if they, want your best wine recommendations from Italy, will you be willing to share that with them as well?
Mattia Miglio 35:48
Yes, I will.
Lori Boyer 35:49
Perfect, perfect. It’s a win-win for everyone.
So thank you so much for being here. Thank you again everyone. Love having this great conversation. Check out Alibaba.com. They’re doing some really, really cool, innovative things over there these days. Love the AI move, love that diversification. There’s so much you can learn about them. Sourcing questions, keep those relationships with your suppliers strong and make sure you’re continually refining them.
Great, great advice that we had here from, from Mattia today. And thank you so much again for being here.
Mattia Miglio 36:24
Thanks you, Lori. Thanks everyone.
Lori Boyer 36:25
Bye bye.
