When businesses start sourcing, the first question is often:

Where should we look?

China? Vietnam? Australia? Alibaba? Canton Fair? An existing supplier?

But that isn’t actually the first question.

The first question is:

What do we actually need?

At Gravitie, our sourcing approach is simple:

Needs first. Market second. Supplier third.

Because until the requirement is clear, there is no meaningful way to decide which market is right — let alone which supplier.

That is where the sourcing brief comes in.

A good sourcing brief gives everyone involved a clear understanding of what the business is trying to achieve before quotes, samples and supplier conversations start taking over.

It doesn’t need to contain every answer.

But it does need to identify the things that could materially change the outcome.

Here are the five areas we get clear on first.

1. Specifications

This is the blueprint.

Not “something like this” or a collection of reference images. Suppliers need enough information to understand what they are actually being asked to quote.

Depending on the product, that might include:

• dimensions

• materials

• finishes and colours

• performance requirements

• packaging

• installation requirements

• relevant testing or compliance

• examples, drawings or prototypes

For more complex or custom-manufactured products, technical drawings or a Bill of Materials may also be needed.

The clearer the specification, the easier it becomes to compare options properly.

Otherwise, you can receive three quotes that appear to be for the same thing when each supplier is actually pricing something different.

Pro Tip:

Separate your must-haves from the things you are willing to be flexible on. If alternative materials, finishes or construction methods are acceptable, say so — and define the boundaries. That gives suppliers room to suggest improvements without allowing the requirement to quietly become something else.

2. Timeline

A sourcing timeline is more than a delivery date.

It can determine which markets, suppliers and manufacturing approaches are realistically available to you.

A tight deadline may rule out overseas production entirely. A custom product may require time for sampling, approvals or tooling before production even starts.

So rather than asking:

“When do we want it delivered?”

work backwards from:

“When does it actually need to be operational?”

Depending on the project, the timeline might need to allow for:

• samples or prototypes

• internal approvals

• testing

• production

• quality inspections

• freight

• customs clearance

• installation

• contingency

Pro Tip:

Build the timeline around the real operational deadline, not simply the preferred delivery date. If the product needs to be installed before an opening, fit-out or launch, that is the date the sourcing plan should work backwards from.

3. Budget

Budget is another area where the first number is rarely the whole number.

A low unit price can quickly become an expensive outcome once all the costs around the product are considered.

Depending on the project, that might include:

• samples

• tooling or moulds

• packaging

• minimum order quantities

• testing

• quality inspections

• freight

• duties and clearance

• storage

• installation

This is why we look at the commercial outcome, not just the supplier quote.

The cheapest quote is not necessarily the cheapest solution — and it certainly isn’t automatically the best one.

Some projects will also need contingency built into the budget, particularly where the specification is still evolving or development work is required.

Pro Tip:

Know what is negotiable before quotes arrive. If the budget comes back higher than expected, you should already understand which parts of the requirement can move and which cannot.

4. Quantities

How much you need affects almost everything that follows.

Pricing. Manufacturing method. Freight. Storage. Supplier suitability.

Order too little and you may pay premium rates or struggle to meet minimum order quantities.

Order too much and you can end up tying up cash in stock you don’t need.

It also helps to separate:

• samples

• the initial production order

• likely repeat volume

A supplier may price each very differently.

And if your product has multiple colours, sizes, finishes or packaging variations, minimum quantities may apply to each version rather than the total order.

Pro Tip:

Ask about MOQ by variation, not only MOQ overall. Ten colours across 1,000 units can be a completely different production proposition from one colour across 1,000 units.

5. How the Product Will Actually Be Used

This is the part that can completely change the brief.

A product can look right, hit the price point and arrive on time — and still be wrong for the job.

The question is not simply:

“What do we want?”

It is:

“Who will use it, where will they use it, and what does it need to withstand?”

Think about things like:

• indoor or outdoor use

• weather exposure

• high traffic

• cleaning and maintenance

• weight or load requirements

• storage

• installation

• expected lifespan

• who is actually using the product

If sustainability, recycled materials, ethical manufacturing, certification, country of origin or other business requirements matter, those should be captured too.

Pro Tip:

Describe the environment and use case, not just the product. A supplier may know their product extremely well while knowing almost nothing about the conditions you intend to put it into.

When One Missing Detail Changes Everything

On an earlier hospitality project, outdoor furniture appeared to tick the obvious boxes.

The design worked.

The price worked.

The product could be supplied within the required timeframe.

But one important detail hadn’t made it into the original requirement: elevation.

The furniture was going onto an upper-level outdoor area rather than a ground-floor space.

That changed the environmental conditions significantly — particularly the level of wind exposure and what the furniture needed to withstand.

The result was a product that wasn’t suited to the conditions it was being placed into, with high winds causing damage to the surrounding amenity.

The lesson wasn’t that the supplier search had failed.

The problem started earlier.

One unanswered question had changed what the right product should have been.

A Good Brief Does Not Mean Knowing Everything

There is one important caveat.

You do not need to know every technical answer before speaking to the market.

Sometimes supplier expertise is exactly what you need.

The goal of a sourcing brief is not false certainty.

It is clarity about four things:

What we know.

What is non-negotiable.

Where we can be flexible.

What we still need to find out.

An identified unknown can be investigated.

An unidentified gap becomes an assumption.

That distinction matters.

Needs First

A sourcing brief gives the rest of the sourcing process something solid to work from.

It helps you decide which markets are appropriate.

It gives suppliers something meaningful to respond to.

And it makes quotes, samples and options much easier to assess against the actual business requirement.

That is why we start here.

Needs first. Market second. Supplier third.

Next, we’ll look at the second part of that approach:

How do you decide which market you should actually source from?

Because the answer isn’t always China — and it isn’t always offshore.

See It in Action at Canton Fair

We’re taking this exact approach to the Canton Fair this October.

If your business has a product it needs to source, develop or improve — or a supplier problem you haven’t been able to solve — we want to hear about it before we go.

Join us for Sourcing Beyond Borders, a practical briefing on what the Canton Fair could unlock for your business and how to turn a sourcing opportunity into a clear commercial brief.

📍 Haymarket HQ, with virtual attendance also available
🗓️ Thursday 8 October, 6–8pm AEDT
🎯 Bring a business need, product idea or simply your curiosity — no existing sourcing brief required
🔍 Suitable sourcing opportunities may be investigated by Gravitie at Canton Fair
⏰ Sourcing brief submissions close Tuesday 20 October

Register for Sourcing Beyond Borders →

Already know what you need?

Submit your sourcing requirement through our Procurement, Sourcing & Product Development page and we’ll be in touch once we’ve reviewed it.