How a U.S. Retailer Reduced Asia Team Costs by $40,000 Annually Without Changing Suppliers
Employer of Record
Project Type
Furniture
Industry
Vietnam
Sourcing Region
Project Snapshot
A US furniture and home décor retailer had a small QC team in Vietnam, but managing that team from the US was slow and expensive. Rockhill Asia took over payroll, contracts, and compliance locally, helped fill an open QC role, and saved the client close to $40,000 a year.
$40,000
Annual cost reduction
Local payroll
Administration implemented
The Client
A growing retailer needed more control over its Asia operations
Our client is a large North American furniture and home décor retailer operating hundreds of stores across the United States and generating annual revenues in the multi-billion-dollar range.
Like many established retailers, the company relies heavily on Asia-based suppliers and maintains local quality control resources to support product inspections, supplier communication, and production oversight.
As sourcing volumes expanded across Asia, maintaining an efficient support structure for local teams became increasingly important. While supplier relationships were performing well, the company began evaluating whether its operational model was still the most effective way to support its growing regional presence.
The Challenge
The hidden cost wasn't supplier pricing. It was team structure.
Many sourcing organizations focus heavily on reducing product costs, negotiating pricing, and improving supplier performance. In this case, the biggest opportunity was elsewhere.
Through Rockhill Asia's ongoing involvement in sourcing and managing several home décor product ranges, our team gained visibility into how the client's Asia operations were structured beyond the factory floor.
While production activities were running effectively, we identified an operational bottleneck within the local team structure supporting those activities. A small quality control team in Asia was employed through a U.S.-based Employer of Record (EOR) arrangement, creating multiple layers between the client and the people working on the ground.
As a result, contract updates, payroll administration, and employee support requests often required coordination across several parties, slowing response times and increasing administrative costs.
What initially appeared to be a standard employment arrangement was, in reality, creating unnecessary complexity around a team that played a critical role in supporting sourcing and production operations throughout Asia.
The opportunity was not to improve sourcing performance. It was to simplify the structure around the people responsible for maintaining it.
What We Did
Bringing Local Teams Closer to the Business
Reviewed the existing setup
We started by reviewing how the team's contracts, payroll, and benefits were currently structured under the US-based EOR. This gave us a clear picture of what was working, what wasn't, and where the client was paying for things they didn't need.
Helped fill the open QC role
The client had one QC position open for a while and hadn't been able to fill it. Our team in Vietnam helped find and screen candidates, and matched them with someone who had the right experience and was a good fit for the role. The new hire joined under the same EOR setup as the rest of the team.
Took over employment locally
Rockhill Asia became the Employer of Record for the team in Vietnam. We handle their employment contracts, monthly payroll, tax filings, and social insurance directly, based on Vietnamese labor law. The team stayed exactly the same. They still report to the client and do the same QC work as before.
Set up one point of contact
Instead of going through a provider overseas, the client now has one local team handling contracts, payroll, and HR questions. Requests that used to take days or weeks are usually handled the same day.
Results
The client kept their full QC team in Vietnam, filled the role they'd been struggling to hire for, and brought their employment costs down at the same time. The most valuable outcome was the increased control and responsiveness gained through a simplified operating structure.
$40,000
Annual Savings
~10%
Operating Cost Reduction
1 Open role
Filled up
Looking to Set Up or Review a Team in Asia?
Whether you're hiring your first person in Vietnam or already have a team and want to simplify how they're managed, our team can walk you through how Employer of Record works for sourcing and operations roles.