How to find distributors in China Market

Basically the nature of the very medical device a manufacturer is about to market in China (please check our other article on 'things to consider before entering China market') will be the key factor to be considered in marketing strategy. China is large in territory, and sometimes the situation may vary from province to province. One recommendable strategy is to divide the entire market into several sub-markets, then find different distributors to cover each individual sub-market.

Since the purchase of medical equipment by a hospital must go through public bidding, a strong local player may be a good partner of a device producer. Nowadays it's getting more and more difficult for a distributor to cover the entire national market, therefore a good set up of sub-markets and well selected regional distributors will assist medical device manufacturers to achieve a quick win in China market.

Hospitals in the eastern provinces are the consumers of high end medical devices/equipment, no matter it is a PET-CT or a surgery robot, or RFID tracking system for OR. One may find the same type of clients in some inland cities, where there are renown hospitals (mostly affiliated to a medical university) or top experts in a certain academic sector.

While hospitals in inland provinces must try the best to balance between demand and budget, stents and crafts definitely have market there, or MRI, but not likely for PET-CT kind of things. Anyhow, the vast territory of mid-west of China is an ideal stage for most of the devices, from Class I to Class III, provided you have the right product for the right client, with the help from the right partner.

For an imaging device manufacturer, a distributor with good back ground in the same sector could be ideal, but sometimes it is not necessarily the case. One of the important criterion is the capability to penetrate. If the distributor has good connections in his territory and is good at securing business, imaging or lab background shall not rank Nr. 1 when per-qualifying a distributor.

In China, NOT all the companies can market medical devices. Only those licensed business entities can legally sell medical devices/equipment, including imported medical devices (please check our other article on 'how to register medical devices to China SFDA').