The unit price comparison is the one everybody makes and the least useful one. The decision is really about four things, and price is only the first.
Unit price
At volume, overseas production is meaningfully cheaper, and the gap widens as quantity rises. Below a certain quantity the saving is swallowed by freight and the minimums, which is why the route is not simply better.
Time
Domestic stock products can often be produced in roughly 10–15 business days after artwork approval. Overseas custom production is measured in weeks to months, including sampling, manufacture and transit. If the date is fixed, this decides the question before the price does.
Minimums
Overseas minimums are substantially higher, because a dedicated production run has to be justified. A quantity that suits domestic decoration may not reach the floor overseas at all.
What overseas buys that domestic cannot
This is the part usually left out of the comparison. Custom shapes, custom materials, specific colors through the whole product rather than printed on it, bespoke packaging and components. If the brief needs a product that does not exist, domestic decoration cannot deliver it at any price.
Risk, and how to manage it
A longer chain has more places to go wrong and less room to recover. Pre-production samples matter more here, margin in the schedule matters more, and the honest question to ask a supplier is what happens if the date slips.
How to decide
Start with the date and the quantity. Those two usually eliminate one route. Then ask whether the brief needs a product that has to be made rather than decorated — if it does, the timeline has to stretch to fit.
Bulk merchandise covers both routes, and minimum order quantities covers why the floors differ.