# General Business Category > General Business Forum >  Shopping Trolley Manufacturer

## MadJan

Hi all, compliments of the season to everyone :-)

I am trying to source a shopping trolley manufacturer in China.....anyone with any info....i have been searching the net with not much luck, any help would be awesome :-)

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## Miro Bagrov

Shopping Trolleys? Can't they be manufactured here?
How many do you need?

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## MadJan

They can be manufactured here but manufacturers here would probably have patents on their designs and would not allow others to sell their trolleys.  We are hoping to find a manufacturer in China that can produce these for for and not have any trade rights etc. It’s quite a challenge to find completely plastic trolleys – steel ones are very common, in terms of quantity...enough to fit into a 20 foot container.

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## Dave A

> They can be manufactured here but manufacturers here would probably have patents on their designs and would not allow others to sell their trolleys.


 :Hmmm:  I wondered if you were thinking of those all plastic trolleys. I vaguely recall those _all plastic_ trolleys were invented and patented by a South African who was sick and tired of the car getting scratched and dented while parked in supermarket parking lots.

If I'm right, importing them into SA from China still leaves you vulnerable to a patent infringement lawsuit if there isn't an arrangement in place wirth the patent holder.

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## AndyD

I'm thinking with an item such as a common or garden shopping trolley I doubt there would be anything novel to patent.

I can't believe you can't find a Chinese supplier. Did you search using the Americanisms such as 'shopping cart' 'grocery cart' etc etc? The Chinese prefer to speak Chusa rather than Chinglish a lot of the time  :Smile:

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## Blurock

Why do you want to source trolleys from China if we can manufacture it very effectively in South Africa?
Due to its bulk shipping costs may be relatively expensive unless you import it in a knock-down form. 

I would prefer to have a product manufactured locally even if it costs me 10% - 15% more. By providing jobs you are giving people their dignity and opportunity to grow. The alternative is that you save your 10% on price, but pay 20% more tax to support the jobless who eventually may turn to crime out of desperation.

I know this is a very simplistic view, but a long drawn out explanation may just bore you to death. :Yawn:

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## Dave A

Blurock - I'm kinda with you, but I also think it wouldn't hurt to look at prices elsewhere too.
Just in case the locals are ripping the ring...

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## Justloadit

If there is no existing manufacturer of the trolley in China, the amount of trollies to fit a 20 foot container will not even cover the cost of the injection moulded tooling.

I reckon that tooling for a trolley due to it's size, and injection moulding pressures to make the trolley, will probably set the tool cost in R2 to R3 million mark if not higher, just the steel cost will be astronomical, and the machine then required to produce these trollies, would have to be a mother of injection moulding machines to get the right amount of plastic and pressure to make the trolley in one shot. Not anyone would have one of these, probably also going to cost between R10 and R20 million. 

So my best guess, is to find the local manufacturer who currently is making the trollies and cut a deal with him. They will give you a reasonable price, although it may not seem like it. The local shopping companies would not have bought them if the price was not reasonable. Just remember they have to get the money back for the original investment.

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## Miro Bagrov

We are talking about the type that retailers use... 
Don't be too worried about the patents: many retailers use trolleys. It is just a cart with wheels with a lever to push on. I doubt anyone cares.

Let me find out for you where the retailers are getting them from. Those things are cheap

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## Blurock

> Blurock - I'm kinda with you, but I also think it wouldn't hurt to look at prices elsewhere too.
> Just in case the locals are ripping the ring...


I agree it is a good business principle to get quotes and not just support locals blindly. I do however have a serious problem with the way that we climb on the bandwagon to source everything from China or other so called low cost manufacturers. 

E.g. I have had applications from people who were awarded tenders to supply everything from tarpaulins to electric cable. People who knows nothing about those industries, but get awarded tenders due to their political connections. The first thing they do is to source from China, no matter if the local factory closes down and 500 or 600 people are now jobless. :Mad: 

In some cases it was more expensive to import from China and with lower quality. Many of these people did not even have a business and they did not employ people. All they had was contacts. Fat cats that get rich through BEE while the masses are jobless and in some cases homeless.  :Banghead: 

Local retailers would also claim that they are buying local, but would send their buyers with the local supplier to source stock in China. (I have 1st hand experience of this - not hearsay). The cheap imports are not so cheap any more as there is no local competition. So where is our local textile industry today? :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 

By importing everything we not only lose jobs, but we also lose those skills. Are people now expected to sit at home and live on government grants? The tax base is only 4.7million people carrying the burden for 50 million plus all the illegal immigrants. Your "cheap" import is costing you dearly and is throwing away your children's future.

By the time we wake up to restart our manufacturing sector, there will be nothing to start.  :Huh:

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Dave A (07-Jan-12), Petrichor (12-Jan-12)

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## MadJan

These trolleys are for shipment to Australia, we have sourced maufacturers in SA as well as in Spain, these are manufactured with a mono block mould, so its one big piece of plastic.  I have found several maufacturers however so far none of them do the complete plastic.... :No: .....

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## Newretailer

Blurock, you are putting in words a BIG bugbear of mine. I am so sick and tired of cheap Chinese imports that break almost immediately. Case in point, I bought a 2-point plug adapter and it lasted for .... exactly one use.

I also believe that the total plastic shopping trolley is a South African invention. Why not support a South African manufacturer? The price we pay for cheap imports is far higher in the long term than we can ever imagine. By the time the full impact has hit us, it will be too late.

edited to add: I didn't see your lastpost  :Smile:

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Blurock (12-Jan-12)

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