Going the old school route - importing goods, any advice?

I have a website dropshipping some items that that's been doing ok but now I want to take it to another level.

I want to brand the products with my logo, have my own inventory and go as far as attending trade shows selling my products.

Now I've been going back and forth with a few suppliers on Alibaba and finally landed on one.

What are the next steps I should look out for?
Types of shipping - DDP / DAP other?
What are some standard terms to keep an eye out, like payment, pre production, samples


Anything else to co sider?

You mean let them do the logo and packaging and send it to you.
Or are these suppliers your product suppliers and can print the logo directly?

The latter,

they have the product they supply to me and I am working with them to customize it with my logo.

Today, I am dropshipping - order is placed on my website and I order it from the supplier direct to the customer. This causes long shipping delays in some cases and it doesn't offer much customization.

I plan to buy in bulk, with custom logo and I will have inventory here locally. I understand that this will increase my shipping costs because i will not have favorable pricing as they do in china but I intend to sell them locally at trade shows and partnerships with retailers

Yes, you have verified that this product is doing well, and the future trend is also good. Buying inventory is risky but acceptable.
It is recommended to choose a balance considering your sales power and the discount of bulk purchases from suppliers.