10 Ways to Find a Wholesale Distributor
What is a wholesale distributor is and how can I find one? This article will give you some insight and essential tips on how you can find (and what is) a wholesale distributor or wholesale supplier as well as useful informatino on dropshipping and potential platforms to help you start up your business.
The role of a wholesale distributor is to buy products in very large quantities directly from the manufacturer, with the intention of selling these products to the retailers - who are selling directly to the public. Depending on which side you are, the distributor is the “middleman” between you and the places that sell your product or the manufacturer of the product you want to sell, as is the case with many e-commerce businesses.
We know that finding a dependable wholesale supplier is a crucial step in starting a successful e-commerce business. Here’s what you will elarn in this article:
What is a wholesale distributor and how does it work?
As we mentioned at the beginning the whole purpose of the wholesale distributor is to play a vital part in keeping everything smooth between manufacturers and users. Distribution businesses can purchase from manufacturers and sell to retailers, or on to consumers and/or businesses.
We should point out that here we have a supply chain which is the entire network of entities, directly or indirectly interlinked in serving the same consumer or customer. This is a system of moving a product or service from supplier to customer.
But before you head-on into this world, you should carefully rethink what your product is about and what you plan to sell to your consumers. Once you get the idea of what your product is, well, you can start searching for the right wholesaler that will supply your business.
Below is a description of the hierarchy, or order, that will help to explain and illustrate the entire supply chain. It is worth notign that distributors and wholesalers are divide dhere but often part of the same role:
Firstly we have:
Manufacturers
Distributors
Wholesalers
Retailers
Consumers
Manufacturers
Manufacturing refers to the large-scale production of products. It converts raw materials into finished merchandise.
The finished goods are often sold on to consumers, to other manufacturers, or to wholesalers. Although, to reduce the risks, any sort of manufacturer should specialize in keeping production costs low, maintaining good internal control, and investing in excellent sales management.
Distributors
Distributors find wholesalers who will resell manufacturers products. A wholesaler works more closely with retailers to match their needs through buying products in bulk at a reduction. While distributors play certain overlapping roles to a wholesaler, they will also take on more diverse operations.
The main variability between the operations of wholesale and distribution is often somewhat of a grey zone being that the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, adding to the confusion.
Wholesalers
A wholesaler would provide goods. For example: if you are buying products in bulk from a middleman (the middleman during this supply process is named the wholesaler or wholesale distributor), who gets the things from the manufacturer, you’re operating in wholesale e-commerce. Purchase orders can typically improve a wholesaler’s buying power and for a certain number of items purchased or the total amount spent on merchandise, many distributors will provide discounts.
Retailers
A retailer would purchase a product in small/large quantities from manufacturers or importers and then sell those small quantities to the customers. Therefore, retailing is an important part of the overall distribution strategy. Larger retailers like Sainsbury's, Tesco or Walmart are designed to display goods from manufacturers or wholesalers.
For example, if you wanted to sell an Apple product to the consumer in your store, well you would need proper documentation which ascertains that you are an authorized dealer.
Retailers often will try to sell these popular kinds of products:
furniture and other household goods
clothing
books
automotive accessories
jewellery
If you are looking to start your own e-commerce business then you can skip to the Drop-shipping section near the end or consider that the above is a very limited list of product categories. In truth it is fundamental to do your research on what you want to sell and the competition.
Consumers
The consumer is an individual. A consumer would buy products or services for personal use. Also, someone who decides whether or not to purchase an item. A consumer is influenced by marketing and advertisements. For this reason, the manufacturer supplies the product and the retailer sells it to end-users.
10 Tips on finding a Wholesale Distributor
If you are just starting this business it’s completely normal to make a couple of mistakes before you get a hang out of how everything works.
The important thing is to learn from your mistakes so that by failing you are only going to get better and wiser. That’s why you should keep in mind that creating that perfect supply chain is an evolution. It may take a lot of trial and error before getting it spot on, but here are a few tips on how to go about it in the best way to find a wholesale distributor:
1. Check search engine results
Obvious - yes, but this should be your first step. Looking up potential wholesale distributors online will give you a good feel for what you're looking for, and what you want to avoid.
However, Google will give a wide variety of results when you try to search for “wholesale distributor”. This is why you need to be precise. If you type this in the search field you will get 720+ million results (November 2020) and on the first page, there is a variety of verticals. So our advice to be discerning would be this:
Include your industry and location
Read reviews
2. Be prepared: research for possible problems
A changing business - slimming down the supply chain
One major challenge and obstacle in this sector today is the loss of retailers due to removing the middlemen and by providing goods and services directly. Modern technologies have greatly enhanced many business operations meaning there is less need for the retailer when the distributor itself can “go to market” or when the retailer can skip the middleman and go to the manufacturer.
Pricing dilemma
Prices nowadays are globally rising. Wholesalers around the world have experienced an increase in transportation cost. Considering that transportation is a large portion of distribution costs it makes sense to minimize this. To control the price would possibly not be an option without massive volume, but we can control how much this could affect the business and do some damage control beforehand by looking for cheaper delivery methods or even offer options to consumers to have goods delivered in more cost-effective ways. Perhaps oif you are a retailer, consider dropshipping.
Working to apply new technologies
The latest tools which are available to the sales industry can be beneficial to everyone in the sales chain. This can be very helpful, but it can also be a setback since some of these technologies are challenging to implement.
Staying on top of inventory levels
Inventory levels are the bloodline that keeps your business alive. So, working in wholesale we are aware that it’s not always easy to keep track of the inventory and backup stock. Trying to keep up with the wholesale metrics can be a lot to take on. That’s why the numbers need to match up. Otherwise, we will not be able to stay on top of what we have, and that can be a big problem in fulfilling orders from customers.
3. Understand and explore distribution
In some markets or sectors you can go straight to the manufacturer, the importer or through a wholesale distributor.
Before starting make sure you have done your research and understand how it works in your chosen industry or at least what the options are. Of course as your business grows you may have more options open up and the ability to reduce costs, by going to the source and not through smaller distribution partners.
Understand where these kind of economies of scale may be in your product sector and perhaps try the manufacturer even before speaking with the distributor, if nothing else they may give you insight.
4. Go to local trade shows
Attending some local trade shows is a great way to meet local wholesale distributors and the wholesale companies in your industry. This is a great way to get some inside scoop and tips that can help you get ahead.
You can also connect with the people in this industry in person and make good connections that will help your business in the future.
5. Online forums
Wholesale forum and Warrior forum can help you find lists of wholesale distributors. Interacting on these forums can help you form business relationships, also you can get some beneficial feedback from other sellers.
6. Subscribe to Your Industry’s Trade Publications
You should get some magazines or newsletters that target retailers in your industry. Besides the internet, this is a good way to get more information that you perhaps will need.
7. Look for Major International B2B Marketplaces
Alibaba is the best platform to work with if you’re a beginner. Besides, there are also a lot of other places where you can buy products at a low price. We should look for the one that serves our region or country. Other B2B Marketplaces would include:
Busy Trade (Hong Kong)
EC21 (Korea)
Buyer Zone (USA)
EC Plaza (Korea)
Global Sources (USA)
8. Research Business Directories
This is also a good way to do your research and find more information before you start. These business directories list a huge volume of manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors. The details you can collect here are accurate and reliable.
Also, let us give you a good tip if you are heading to your closest library. Our suggestion would be to search for your products according to their region's industry classification system.
9. Use LinkedIn to find a wholesale distributor
LinkedIn is the premiere platform when it comes to connecting with other professionals. You can try to type some keywords and see what comes up that might be helpful.
Here are some groups that could check:
Jobs & Market Place: Wholesalers, Retail Industry, Distributors, Exporters, Manufacturers
TopTenWholesale.com – Wholesale, Sourcing, Closeouts, Trade Shows – B2B
10. Look for wholesale lots on platforms such as eBay
You will not necessarily find an endless supply on eBay but you may get “job lots” which allow you to get your business up and running. In this way you may also be able to buy all of something which may give you a competitive advantage.
Because of the changing dynamics of online sales, that we mentioned earlier, it is also possible that those who are selling products directly through online marketplaces (such as eBay, Amazon, Etsy) are also distributors so it can be worth speaking directly to a few in the search for a wholesale partner.
Dropshipping - What’s that all about?
With many businesses looking to make money through their online presence dropshipping has become a vital form of wholesale distribution.
Dropshipping is a retail supply management method where a store doesn’t keep goods in sales stock.
When a customer makes a purchase through the website or brick and mortar store, shops purchase the item from the third party and have it shipped directly to the customer. This eliminates the need for large stocks of goods and gives business flexibility to have a larger catalogue of available goods in the store.
In the digital age we are seeing more retail business moving to the web, some reports indicate that 33% of internet retailers are using some sort of dropshipping method - many of them doing business through the Aliexpress platform, But also there are a lot of smaller options from plug-and-play kind of eCommerce platforms (more below).
The downside of dropshipping can be the predatory behaviour of some scammers that have been discovered on eBay. But this can be bypassed in the future by educating customers and presuming bigger businesses to be more mindful of scammers. So far the UK has been on a steady rising track of eCommerce business, there is a several large and trusted business this is a list of good few that I would like to point at:
List of Dropshippers that could be of help to you:
Bigbuy
BigBuy is perhaps the leading dropshipping provider in Europe. They are headquartered in Spain and it is a B2B e-commerce company.
BigBuy has been offering dropshipping for several years. It started long before dropshipping became a powerful trend in e-commerce. One of the main strengths of BigBuy would be that this wholesaler has tens of thousands of articles in its catalogue. They consist of the most important items of dominant brands with low-cost products.
BigBuy did develop synchronized e-commerce for its customers. Because of this, customers can start selling. They don’t need to worry too much about the technical aspect, such as intagrations. Especially for people who don’t have technical notions of e-commerce it can be the perfect solution.
Of course, we must be clear on this: this dooesn;t change the fact that knowing how to promote your store correctly and give it that needed value that the customers will look for will make or break it.
This e-commerce platform is very powerful, but that is exactly why people need to be more informed when it comes to how and what works best for them. BigBuy will help and create your own e-commerce and support for you.
You can save a lot of time for sure and, by leaving the creation of the store to BigBuy, you may also save a lot when it comes to set up work and configuration.
The advantages that BigBuy can offer would be:
Catalogue
They do add new references and as we have noticed they have grown in recent months.
Logistics
This would be a very important and vital element of dropshipping. BigBuy has its own warehouse and they also have an agreement with the main couriers at the national level.
Synchronization
If we do not value good synchronization, we can say for sure that selling via the Internet can be a pain.
Multi-channel Integration Platform
This platform requires no programming knowledge and actually, it is fully automatic.
Oberlo – Marketplace for eCommerce Products
Oberlo can run your dropshipping business and if you haven’t used it then you haven’t truly been doing dropshipping. This is a dropshipping app that is connected to Shopify. This app will arrange the shipments and it will help sellers to discover new items for online selling. Anyone can use Oberlo if they have the Shopify store. On this site pricing will be quite reasonable and the company will offer three main plans and they include; Starter Plan, Basic Plan & Pro Plan.
Dropship Direct– Wholesale Dropshipping
Dropship Direct offers over 100,000 items for you from more than 900 brands. It’s free to use. This gives you a chance to try this for free. Here, you pick your item to start with. You don’t really need to be in contact with the drop shipper or anyone for that matter. We should mention that they do have the lowest costs. It won’t require any monthly, even yearly membership costs, and even though we know this is standard among other drop shippers.
Sunrise Wholesale – Wholesale Dropshipper
You gain access to over 15,000 brand products. Sunrise Wholesale is the type of service that dropships products directly and that can make it easier for you to handle your business. Sunrise Wholesale will offer you a great mix of features and low costs. They have particularly strong features for selling through eBay and you can integrate your eBay account and the list of products directly from the product page. They will also offer customer support through phone and email.
Wholesale 2B – Best Dropshipping Wholesalers
If a customer places an order, the Wholesale 2B site will take a commission and it will send the product directly to your customer. You can also search for certain items and categories. Even though the Wholesale2b website can get a bit confusing before you sign up and we do know it’s not exactly as straightforward as you would hope but the pricing packages should help you straighten things out a bit.
SaleHoo – Dropship Wholesalers
They have 8,000+ companies in their network. And all of these 8000+ companies are verified by the SaleHoo. You can trust them for quality. Salehoo will offer you a flat price of $67 for access for the whole year. We have a new option that gives you lifetime access for $127. The pricing for Salehoo is kinda viewed as very competitive within this market.
Wholesale Central – Dropshipping Company
They don’t have a great website, but it’s a quite decent tool for filtering through categories. Wholesale Central has over 630,332 items listed. Also, you will be directly working with manufacturers. Wholesale Central itself does not offer any wholesale or dropshipping service. However, if you do want to sell on Wholesale Central, you would just need to register on it.
Megagoods – Dropship Suppliers
Megagoods is a drop shipper based in California. It has a large selection of brand names. They specialize in consumer electronics and video games. This wholesale drop shipper has an inventory of only 2,000 products. This is a low-cost option and this could be right for you if you are interested.
Doba – #1 Dropshipping Company
Doba is one of the great drop shipping services out there. It provides a detailed directory of manufacturers and wholesalers but also offers a platform to simply add the products you want. Also, Doba comes in with its middleman capabilities where it deals with newsletters, curated product lists and great suppliers. Doba is based in the U.S, but even though this is the case they will provide a virtual assistant to help you out.
How does Amazon fit into this?
Dropshipping is one of the methods of starting a business on Amazon. Other choices and arguably different methods of selling products on Amazon can include wholesaling and private labels. Here is how the dropshipping sales flow looks thorough Amazon:
First, a customer will purchase the product that you’ve listed on Amazon.
Second, when the transaction is done, and you receive the funds, you will purchase the product directly from the supplier, and it will give them directly the customer’s information for shipping.
Lastly, the supplier then sends the product to the customer.
On Amazon dropshipping does involve selling pre-existing products from manufacturers.
Also, when starting out, it is recommended keeping things simple, so when setting a price for your drop-shipped product don’t forget to account for Amazon’s fees. If you are a professional seller, you will pay a referral fee depending on the category.
If you want to learn more about Amazon’s fees by category checxk out their Selling on Amazon fee schedule.
Before we go on, here we will leave you with a couple of small tips for success when dropshipping on Amazon.
Conclusion:
Doing your research and knowing how to find a wholesale distributor is the first step you need to make. It will take a huge amount of time to learn how and where your business fits in the supply chain that you’re interested in, but by learning new things about this industry will help your business grow over time.
It’s a process - we know!
So if you are struggling on how to start researching for a wholesale distributor, well we do hope that these tips we provided will help you out and give you the push you need, to begin with creating your own business.
Good luck!