“Like our very own office in Asia”

Kokkola-based Halpa-Halli Oy has been a customer of ours for a long time. We asked procurement manager Janne Toivonen to tell us what he appreciates about our collaboration.

“OUR COLLABORATION WITH NIKOLAI Sourcing began when we wanted to strengthen our imports from China. We were looking for a partner of a suitable size with an established network for our Asia procurements. We wanted to create a package that we could use to ensure the quality and responsibility of our brands and our imports.

IN PRACTICE, NIKOLAI Sourcing is our eyes and ears in Asia. We have outsourced our Asia operations to them so that there is high transparency to factories and suppliers. With Nikolai, we’re able to visit factories, negotiate in person, and manage quality and delivery times.

I would describe Nikolai Sourcing in three words: reliable, flexible and fast.”

THE CULTURAL DIFFERENCES between Asia and Finland were reduced greatly by the fact that Nikolai Sourcing’s head office is in Finland and that the company has plenty of experience and understanding of Asia as an operating environment. We have designated people at Nikolai Sourcing’s Asia office that we communicate with about specified categories. In Asia, it’s rare to say directly if something isn’t possible, but Nikolai Sourcing’s local experts understand and know how to ask questions that get the right answers.

DURING THE PANDEMIC, and otherwise, Nikolai Sourcing has found flexible solutions to every challenge. They have been of great help in seeing things through to completion, even during exceptional circumstances – we haven’t had a single problem with goods deliveries throughout the entire pandemic. For us it’s good that our partner has an established network that we can make use of in India as well as in China.

I would describe Nikolai Sourcing in three words: reliable, flexible and fast. We have formed a long partnership with Nikolai Sourcing. To us, our collaboration feels like we have our very own office in Asia.”