I help founders and category managers of white-label consumer brands make the calls that move margin — what to buy, how deep, and when to stop.
Eleven years in sourcing and procurement across China–Europe trade lanes. Over 3,000 SKUs sourced, 73 supplier relationships built and maintained.
A client's product sold 30% of its buy almost instantly after going viral on Amazon. Every instinct said double down. I advised against buying into the spike — virality is a marketing event, not a demand base. The follow-on order became dead stock inside two quarters. The client who held back kept his capital and his shelf space.
Right. And I could only recommend, not decide.
Mid-pandemic, with home fitness flying, I asked a client to cut his buying depth in home gym while the numbers still looked strong. Source-side order books were already thinning. The downtrend arrived weeks later, the moment lockdowns eased. The category died on schedule. His exposure didn't.
Right. And it only worked because he acted on it.
Products I flagged on the hall floor and never backed with a calculated bet were trending across Europe six to eight months later. Being right and not acting is still a loss.
That notebook is why my method now forces the position — small, and early.
Early on I stayed emotionally invested in winning products until they turned hostile — reordering out of loyalty long after the demand had left.
The rule is mechanical now: the moment a favourite stops earning its reorder, it's inventory, not identity.
These are the calls I can stand behind in a room with your order book open. The misses stay on the page because they shaped the method more than the wins did.
"I only realise the source price has fallen when it's too late — and that's exactly why I'm still holding the stock."
"Category managers take too long. They ignore what happens at the source, then take their risk too late in the product's life."
Reading source-side movement — factory pricing, order-book rhythm, fair-floor signals — against your own sell-through and returns, so the buy is timed instead of guessed.
Signals are directional. Nothing here overrides your own data; it tells you where to look first.
Supplier discovery, vetting and negotiation across China–Europe lanes, so no single factory becomes a single point of failure.
Product spec, packaging, MOQ negotiation, quality testing and EU/UK customs clearance, end to end.
Vendor management and reporting turned into repeatable workflows your team keeps using after I leave.
AI-assisted research and vetting cuts supplier shortlisting from days to hours — with structured risk notes, not guesswork.
Models blend sales velocity, market chatter and seasonality to flag what to buy, when to buy it, and when to pause.
Automated briefs on pricing benchmarks, MOQ trade-offs and counter-offers — so every factory conversation starts informed.
SOPs, QA checklists and reporting templates generated from raw notes — turning one-off wins into repeatable systems.
Confidentiality is my quiet standard.
Your suppliers, your margins, your playbook — never leave this room. No case studies with your name on it. No name-dropping to win the next client. What I build for you stays yours.
Formalised by NDA before any commercial detail is shared. Privacy policy.
Prateek Lalwani
Every engagement is scoped to the shape of your business, from a one-time diagnostic to a full white-label build-out. No packaged tiers.
Bring one category. We'll look at where the buy is timed wrong and what I'd do about it.
Confidentiality is my quiet standard
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