Loading...
Answers
MenuI have started a wholesale business and I want to know how to sell to retailers as a wholesaler? How to contact them and sell to them?
This question has no further details.
Answers
How to sell to retailers? As a former Retail Buyer from Target, here's my suggestion. You need to first ready your sales communication and materials to explain how 1) You will drive sales at their stores (best told through sales traction and history in comparable or slightly smaller retailers than the one you are targeting 2) Demonstrate how you will support sales with a marketing plan. Marketing mitigates sales risk and that's a retailer's #1 concern and 3) Prove you will deliver flawless vendor execution. There are many hiccups that happen along the supply chain and it takes an experienced company to flawlessly deliver inventory to the right stores/DC's in the right quantity on the right day. The best way to prove this is by showing that you are currently working with retailers of the same magnitude. So in short, you have to scale up slowly - from small retailers to larger retailers - in order to manage risk, build sales traction, build brand awareness, and manage cash flow.
How to contact them and sell to them? Use Linked In to find retail buyers. I have a short video on how to do this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwbfUMRHiq0 Trade shows are also effective; you can get the mailing address of retail buyers in attendance plus meet them face to face if they come to your booth. Also, network within your industry. You'll find your peers are wiling to trade buyer lists with you. But in short, don't bother reaching out to a retail buyer until you have talking points that address those 3 things I mentioned above all.
I'm happy to do a clarity call if you have follow up questions.
This would depend on the product you are selling and the industry you are in. Most consumer products, packaged goods and fashion industries have annual or more frequent trade shows throughout the world. Research your consumer market or the final audience you want your products to reach, then find a trade event and sell to retailers who attend these shows. Having a booth and good presence at these shows also builds your brand. In between events, reach out directly to retailers you want to see your products at. Offer them to sell products on consignments or give them samples to test out demand. The retailer is mostly interested in turning sales as quickly as possible with minimal space requirement, use this knowledge to sell your product. Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.
You may want to check Doba.com or inventorysource.com. They work with a lot of smaller manufacturers/wholesalers, and provide broad access to e-tailers.
Related Questions
-
I am starting a business as a reseller of corporate clothing, gifts and promotional product, have no skill running it. Please help
Someone else creates the design and physical products, correct? In that case, your main challenges are (A) identifying customers (B) convincing them to give you a chance (C) keeping them happy with good customer service When it comes to (A), you should probably be knocking on a lot of doors. You'll experience plenty of rejection, but some people will say Yes. Do a good job, and they may remain ongoing customers or refer you to others. This doesn't require any formal study of marketing. It just takes practice and long hours. There's another way to handle (A). And you should probably be doing both in tandem. This involves studying the behavior of people you want as customers. Many people are searching online every day to find companies who provide exactly those products and services you offer. You can ensure they see you by running a pay-per-click advertising campaign in Google and other search engines. SEM professionals can help manage your expenses and ad placements. You'll also want to evaluate the written content on your website and think about SEO. The better your websites perform online "organically", the higher they rank for all the relevant online searches, the less you'll need to pay to advertise. I can't help you with customer service (C). But maybe I can help you think about (A) – finding customers online. And I can certainly help with (B) convincing the people you approach (or who find you on their own) that they ought to hire you. Practicing your sales pitch is important, since you'll be delivering it to a lot of different people. But much of your sales pitch is embedded within your website and brand name. So you ought to pay very close attention to the visual and verbal quality of all your promotional material, ranging from on-site text to graphic design, verbiage in brochures and ads, and (perhaps most crucially) the domain name you've chosen to be known by. That name / domain is everyone's first impression of you. Even before they click, they've judged you. When they arrive on the website, they see the visual layout and the written content. So even before they've tried your actual services, they've judged you again. Clearly, it's worthwhile to perfect these early stages in your sales funnel so that prospects make it all the way to the finish line – i.e. asking questions and hiring you. If you'd like help with naming, domain procurement, branded copy writing, or SEM strategy, perhaps I can assist.JP
-
How do I sell iPhone cases and make a profit out of them?
Selling any product including "iPhone cases" on websites with high competition like Ebay is surely not an easy mission. There are hundreds of sellers on Ebay and other websites who are already selling cases. If you need to get some sales, you need at least one of the following: 1. High reputation, reviews or feedbacks on the website that you are selling on. 2. The product that you are selling must be unique in some way or simply not found anywhere else. 3. If your products are featured at your own website, then that website of yours must be ranked properly online and marketed decently around social media networks. In your case, a possible approach would be to create your own website to sell your products on or work as an affiliate marketer for other big sellers in exchange for commissions. Depending on your budget, you need to draw the right plan around. If you have a good budget to invest in your business, then creating a website for yourself is a must. Otherwise, you need to rely on other websites and seek to provide unique or special products to get an edge around. Hope that helps!RZ
-
I have my own shopify store and sell wholesale. How do I encourage customers to buy from me rather than my stockists?
We sell both through the retail chain and direct on our website. The only way to encourage customers to buy from you rather than your stockists is to provide more value than your retailers. The advantage you have as a manufacturer is your intense knowledge for your products. Educate your customers on exactly why your products are the perfect fit and show them how the product would function in their lives. Make the process easy, delivery quick, customer service awesome, and build a unique connection with your customer by telling your story. The one thing you WILL NOT want to do is under cut your stockists on price. Stick to your MSRP and encourage your stockists to abide by that as well. Take price out of equation and rather than thinking of "how can I cut price to move more products," think "how can I add more value to this product to move more products." Hope this helps!EB
-
What's a middle ground between dropshipping and wholesaling for an ecommerce business?
You can use something like Amazon FBA where you send all your inventory to one of their many warehouses around the world and they will securely store it for you. Then, when you have a sale, they will pack and ship the order to the customer for you. They even handle things like returns and customer service. I would recommend checking it out.DG
-
What are the best B2B marketing books out right now?
For pure B2B, nothing beats the free and fee offerings at http://www.marketingprofs.com/RR
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.