What's Actually Going On
Many factories are used to the most basic export playbook: a customer asks for a price, you quote an FOB number. That might be enough for small orders or trading-company deals, but if your target is a major retail buyer like Walmart, Target, or TJX, quoting FOB alone is basically an automatic disqualification.
The reason is simple: the buyer has to make a purchasing decision internally, and what they need is landed cost — the full cost structure once goods reach the warehouse and go on the shelf, not the price at your factory gate. Quoting FOB alone means leaving that entire calculation for the buyer to guess at themselves — and a major buyer doesn't have time to guess along with you.
A Real Example
A kitchenware factory, reaching out to a major US chain retail buyer for the first time, sent a quote sheet with only an FOB unit price and MOQ. The reply was polite but clear: "we'd need to see the full landed cost structure and pricing tiers for different order volumes before we can follow up further." That was the last they heard.
After preparing a complete pricing package — freight assumptions, tariffs, a warehousing cost range, and three MOQ pricing tiers — the same buyer scheduled a video call within two weeks.
So What Should You Actually Do
- Prepare a complete pricing package that includes, at minimum: FOB, an estimated freight range, tariff assumptions, a warehousing cost range, and a note on payment terms and return risk.
- Offer at least three MOQ pricing tiers, so the buyer can see how prepared you are for a scaled relationship.
- State payment terms clearly on the quote sheet — this detail gets overlooked often, but it's one of the key pieces of information a buyer uses to judge whether working with you is even feasible.