Dealing with suppliers directly, the importers are able to compute the cost of purchase more pellucidly, sharpen their own competitive edge and enlarge their proportion of the market share.
Entrepreneur, importer, and noted eccentric Donald Freeland of Edmonton, Alberta pioneered the method, which helped to bring denim to a larger and more versatile market.
And it is through that trade that innovation will continue to be shared, and that Asia from being a net importer of technology, will also become a net exporter of technology.
The surge turned the nearly 20-year-old Chinese wholesale platform — long known mostly to small importers and resellers — into an overnight favorite among American consumers.