The China-Plus-One strategy is reshaping how UK businesses source products — here's what it means, whether it's right for you, and how to make it work.
In summary: The China-Plus-One strategy involves sourcing products from a second manufacturing country — typically Vietnam — alongside your existing China supply chain. For UK importers, diversifying between China and Vietnam reduces supply chain risk, takes advantage of favourable trade agreements like the UKVFTA, and can lower production costs for certain product categories. Epic Sourcing has teams on the ground in both China and Vietnam to help UK businesses manage dual-country sourcing.
Let me take you back to early 2020. Or, for that matter, to any of the last five years when another unexpected supply chain crisis hit the news. Container shortages. Factory lockdowns. Port congestion. US-China tariff escalations. For UK importers who had placed all their eggs firmly in the Chinese manufacturing basket, these moments were deeply uncomfortable. Twas' a simpler time, before supply chain resilience became board-level conversation.
I've spoken to dozens of UK business owners who lived through exactly this. One client — importing promotional goods for UK events companies — told me: "When everything ground to a halt, we had no backup. Our supplier couldn't produce, we couldn't get containers, and we had clients waiting. It was a nightmare." He came to us specifically to build a second sourcing option.
That's the China-Plus-One strategy in a nutshell. Not abandoning China — which remains the world's manufacturing powerhouse — but building a resilient, diversified supply chain that doesn't leave you exposed when the unexpected happens. And in today's geopolitical climate, unexpected has become rather routine.
The China-Plus-One strategy is a supply chain approach where a business sources from China as its primary manufacturing base, while simultaneously developing sourcing capability in at least one other country. The "plus one" for most UK importers is Vietnam — though India, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Indonesia are also in the mix depending on the product category.
The strategy isn't about replacing China. It's about not being exclusively dependent on it. Even with a second sourcing country in the mix, China typically remains the dominant production partner. The goal is optionality: if something goes wrong in China, you can ramp up Vietnam; if Vietnam faces an issue, China absorbs the load.
"China-Plus-One is the insurance policy every serious importer should have — but most don't get around to setting up until after the first crisis."
There are several interconnected reasons why we're seeing a genuine shift in how UK businesses think about their supply chains. First, there's geopolitical uncertainty. US-China trade tensions have created tariff environments that knock on to UK businesses — particularly those selling into or competing with US markets. Global supply chain disruptions caused by geopolitical friction don't respect borders.
Second, there's rising costs. Chinese manufacturing wages have increased significantly over the past decade. The cheap-labour arbitrage that made China so dominant in the 1990s and 2000s has narrowed. For labour-intensive categories like clothing, footwear, and certain electronics assembly, Vietnam can now offer genuinely competitive pricing.
Third, there's the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA), which came into force in 2021 and has created meaningful duty advantages for UK importers sourcing specific product categories from Vietnam — most notably textiles, clothing, and footwear. And fourth — the one that's hardest to quantify — there's resilience. A supply chain running through two countries is simply more robust than one that doesn't.
Sourcing Hack #1: Before you decide whether to diversify, audit your current supply chain for single points of failure. If one supplier in one country produces more than 60% of your total inventory, you have a concentration risk worth addressing. A quick spreadsheet mapping your suppliers, countries, and product categories is all you need to start.
Vietnam has built genuine manufacturing excellence in specific product categories. Understanding where Vietnam outperforms, matches, or lags behind China is essential to making smart diversification decisions.
Vietnam's strongest categories: Clothing and apparel (Vietnam is the world's third-largest garment exporter), footwear (major global brands manufacture here), electronics assembly, and furniture and homeware — particularly wooden furniture and rattan products. Under the UKVFTA, duty rates on qualifying garments can drop significantly. Our Private Label Package is popular with clothing importers specifically because of this dynamic.
Where China still leads: Electronics components, complex machinery, tooling and moulding, large-scale production across almost any category, and products requiring deep supplier ecosystems. China's manufacturing infrastructure took 40 years to build. Vietnam can't replicate that overnight — and doesn't need to for many categories.
Sourcing Hack #2: When evaluating whether a product is suitable for Vietnam sourcing, ask your supplier three questions: (1) Where do they source their raw materials? (2) What's the lead time vs your current Chinese supplier? (3) What's the minimum order quantity? Vietnam MOQs can be higher for some categories because factories are smaller and less automated than their Chinese counterparts.
The UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement is genuinely one of the most underused tools available to UK importers today. For textiles and garments specifically, duty rates can drop from around 12% to 0% over the phase-in period — provided the goods meet the rules of origin requirements, proving they were genuinely manufactured in Vietnam (not just shipped through or assembled from Chinese components).
Getting the rules of origin right is one of those details that separates a costly mistake from a meaningful cost saving. HMRC provides guidance, and a good freight forwarder or customs broker can advise on whether your specific product qualifies. If you're not sure, book a call with us and we can walk you through it.
Let's be honest about the challenges, because there are real ones. The primary challenge is complexity. Two countries means two sets of logistics, two sets of quality control requirements, two sets of supplier relationships, two compliance environments, and two currencies. For a small business with limited bandwidth, that complexity has a real cost.
The second challenge is finding good suppliers in Vietnam. Vietnam's supplier ecosystem is genuine, but it is not as vast or as digitally accessible as China's. You can't simply go on Alibaba and find 400 verified Vietnamese factories for a given product category. The route to Vietnamese suppliers typically involves trade missions, trade shows, or working with an agent who has on-the-ground relationships.
Third, quality consistency. Building a quality-assurance relationship with a new supplier takes time. Your established Chinese supplier knows your standards, your labels, your packaging requirements, your testing protocols. A new Vietnamese supplier starts from scratch. Budget for more intensive quality control in the early months. Our White Label and Secret Label packages include supplier vetting and QC management as standard.
Sourcing Hack #3: Don't switch suppliers for cost alone. Before approving a Vietnamese supplier, request a factory audit report, samples across at least two production runs, and references from other international buyers — preferably UK or European. A supplier who can't provide any of these isn't ready for international business.
Finding reliable Vietnamese suppliers from the UK is harder than finding Chinese suppliers — there's no large-scale equivalent of Alibaba for Vietnam, and the supplier ecosystem isn't as digitally documented. The practical routes: trade shows (Vietnam International Sourcing Expo, HAWA Expo for furniture, Saigon Tex for textiles); B2B platforms (VietnamB2B Direct, VCCI listings); and — most efficiently — working with a sourcing agent who has Vietnamese presence.
At Epic Sourcing, we have a team in Ho Chi Minh City for exactly this purpose. We identify, vet, and manage Vietnamese suppliers on your behalf — the same model we use for China, adapted for Vietnam's unique landscape. Explore our Private Label and White Label packages to see how we structure this. Our Epic Guide on How to Find Reliable Manufacturers in China covers verification principles that apply equally to Vietnam.
Sourcing Hack #4: When building your supplier shortlist in Vietnam, prioritise factories that already export to the EU or UK. They already understand CE marking, REACH compliance, packaging regulations, and documentation requirements. A factory that's only ever sold domestically will take longer to bring up to speed — and that cost is on you.
The honest answer depends on your business. If you're importing a single product category with MOQs that just about work with your current Chinese supplier, and your sales volume doesn't justify doubling your supply chain overhead, China-Plus-One might not be right yet. But if you're importing more than £100k annually, have more than two or three SKUs, or your product category has meaningful presence in Vietnam (clothing, footwear, furniture, certain electronics), the case for exploring diversification is strong.
Think of it as risk management. Every pound of inventory tied up in a single-country supply chain is exposed to geopolitical risk, logistics disruption, and factory-level quality failures without a backup plan. Diversification is the grown-up response to that risk — even if it feels more complex in the short term.
You'll also find our Complete Guide to Importing from China to the UK useful as a companion — especially the sections on supplier verification and quality control, which apply equally to Vietnamese sourcing. And if you're new to importing, our guide on What Is an EORI Number? covers another essential that first-time importers often overlook.
If you're curious about what diversifying to Vietnam would look like for your specific product category, that's exactly the conversation we have on our discovery calls. Book a call here, or drop us a line at hello@epicsourcing.co.uk | 07551 136406.
China-Plus-One is a sourcing strategy where businesses maintain China as their primary manufacturing base but add at least one alternative country — most commonly Vietnam — as a secondary supply source. The goal is supply chain resilience: if one country faces disruption, production can shift to the other. It's about reducing concentration risk, not replacing China entirely.
In many product categories, yes. Vietnam produces goods for major global brands in clothing, footwear, electronics assembly, and furniture — often to the same quality standards as China. The difference is in capacity and ecosystem depth. China has a far larger and more interconnected supplier base, making it better for complex products or large production runs. For many export categories, Vietnamese quality is excellent.
The UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, in force since May 2021, progressively reduces import duties on thousands of product categories between the UK and Vietnam. Textiles, clothing, and footwear see some of the most significant reductions — in some cases to 0% duty — provided goods meet the rules of origin requirements. This can create meaningful cost savings compared to importing the same goods from China.
You don't technically need one, but it's much harder without one. Vietnam's supplier ecosystem is less digitally accessible than China's — there's no large-scale B2B platform equivalent to Alibaba. Finding, vetting, and managing Vietnamese suppliers from the UK without local representation is challenging and time-consuming. A sourcing agent with Vietnamese presence significantly reduces this barrier.
Realistically, allow three to six months from initial supplier shortlisting to your first production run. This includes supplier identification, factory audits, sample production (usually two to three rounds), and logistics setup. If you work with an agent who already has Vietnamese supplier relationships, the timeline can be shorter — but don't rush the sampling and vetting phase.
Not at all. While large corporates have driven much of the China-Plus-One conversation, the strategy is increasingly relevant for UK SMEs — particularly those importing in categories where Vietnam has competitive pricing under the UKVFTA. If you're importing £50,000+ annually in a relevant product category, it's worth at least exploring.
Thinking about diversifying your supply chain? Epic Sourcing has teams on the ground in both China and Vietnam. We can help you identify whether your product category is suitable for dual-country sourcing, find and vet Vietnamese suppliers, and manage the transition smoothly. Book a strategy call or email us at hello@epicsourcing.co.uk — 07551 136406.
TK Wang, Founder & Director @ Epic Sourcing
