SMBs expand multi‑region sourcing to 55% as China lead‑time worries rise
Small and midsize businesses are expanding their supplier base across more regions and ordering earlier, according to Netstock’s 2026 survey of over 2,500 customers worldwide. The share of SMBs sourcing from at least two of the four tracked regions rose to 55% in 2026, up from 45% in 2024.
When allowed to cite multiple pressures, supplier timing appeared among the top three concerns for 77% of SMBs, freight and shipping for 72%, raw materials and input costs for 66%, and demand shifts for 57%. Supplier lead-time swings ranked as the top inventory planning challenge for 29% of respondents, while raw material and input costs, freight and shipping costs, and demand shifts followed at 23%, 22% and 21% respectively. In 2025, 61% of SMBs sourcing from China cited long supplier lead times, compared with 52% of businesses elsewhere; this year those figures rose to 75% and 42%, widening the China sourcing gap from 9 to 33 percentage points. Preference for offshore sourcing fell to 21% in 2026 from 31% in 2024, while domestic sourcing preference increased to 23% over the same period, and only 35% of U.S. SMB respondents reported changing suppliers due to tariffs in the past year. Netstock also found that lead-time variability affects 74% of SMBs, long lead times affect 63%, and minimum order quantities affect 60%. The findings suggest freight demand could become increasingly fragmented as smaller businesses diversify suppliers, shift purchase orders between countries and adjust shipment timing rather than relying on the relatively straightforward inventory-building strategies that characterized 2025.
Last year, tariffs were a dominant concern and prompted businesses to front-load orders and build buffer inventories. In 2025, 61% of SMBs sourcing from China cited long supplier lead times, compared with 52% of businesses sourcing elsewhere.
What we know
Netstock, a supply chain planning software company, based the report on a survey of more than 2,500 customers worldwide, along with a survey of more than 150 users at small and midsize businesses with less than $250 million in annual revenue.
Supplier lead-time swings ranked as the biggest inventory planning challenge for 29% of respondents, followed by raw material and input costs at 23%, freight and shipping costs at 22%, and demand shifts at 21%.
Among businesses sourcing from the U.S., China, Canada and Mexico — four regions tracked consistently across Netstock’s past three benchmark reports — the share sourcing from at least two regions increased from 45% in 2024 to 49% in 2025 and 55% this year.
In 2025, 61% of SMBs sourcing from China cited long supplier lead times, compared with 52% of businesses sourcing elsewhere. This year, those figures widened to 75% and 42%, respectively.
That expanded the China sourcing gap from 9 percentage points to 33 percentage points in one year.