What being there’s genuinely better at
Judging build quality with your hands. Seeing the price range across a category in one afternoon. Finding the thing you didn’t know existed, which happens constantly here and never happens in a search box.
Also, being met. A supplier who has shaken your hand answers messages faster a year later. That effect is real and it’s hard to replicate remotely.
What remote sourcing is genuinely better at
Reordering something you already know. Comparing written specifications carefully without a salesperson standing next to you. Keeping a slow conversation going across weeks.
And cost, obviously. A trip is a real expense and for a small first order it can be larger than the margin on the order itself.
The pattern most buyers settle into
Go once, properly. Walk the halls, meet ten suppliers, shortlist three, and understand what things cost. Then run the next several orders remotely against the relationships you built.
Go back when your range changes or when something needs sorting out in person, because both are much easier in a room than over messages.
If you can’t go at all
Ask for far more photographs than feel reasonable, including of the parts nobody photographs: the underside, the back panel, the inside of a drawer, the packed carton.
Ask for a video call from the showroom floor with the product in shot. It’s normal now, and suppliers set up for export are usually glad to walk you round the floor.
Get physical swatches shipped to you, and inspect the goods before the balance is paid. Those two steps replace a surprising amount of what a visit would have given you.