Whether you are a small business owner or manager who is engaged in buying and selling of goods and services, you must keep in mind that a manufacturer can’t sell all of his products directly to end customers, therefore, he uses different channels of distribution to deliver the products to their target market.
In this article we will discuss wholesale and wholesaler, how does it work and what are the key benefits and types of wholesalers.
Table of Contents
Wholesale Definition
Wholesale is an important component distribution channel and it can be defined as “a business activity of the buying and selling of goods in large quantities at cheaper prices, mostly to small business and shop when then sell them to end-users”. Collins Dictionary
Wholesaler
A wholesaler is a person or firm that buys goods in large quantity directly from the manufacturer and sell them in small quantities to shops. A wholesaler engaged primarily in business to business activities rather than business-to-consumer activities.
Wholesaling
Wholesaling is the process of buying products from the manufacturers at a lower price; adding some margin price on the products, and then selling it to the other businesses like retailers or small shops.
Key Benefits of Wholesale
Instead of selling the products directly to the customers; the manufacturer chooses to sell his goods and products to the wholesaler. Here are some of the key benefits of wholesale if one is interested in the wholesale business;
Saves Money
Wholesale means buying a huge bulk of products at a low price; it’s often 50% off the selling price and then setting the manufacturer’s price as a sale price. In other words, round about 50% profit on the sale of the product.
Brand Creation and Propagation
Wholesalers usually rebrand the product when it comes under their umbrella. Shopping malls, grocery stores, and marts are a very good example of wholesale rebranding because they don’t manufacture any products, instead, they add a label of their store line to brand themselves.
The wholesaler gets the opportunity to be in direct contact with the manufacturer and the customer at the same time, which gives him an opportunity to brand himself and remove the manufacturer out of the picture by putting his brand label.
Become an Expert
Being directly in contact with the customers, you’ll observe which manufacturing product is selling more. Then you can use this knowledge to your own business advantage and focus only on that specific product which would attract more customers to your store.
Diversification
Wholesaling provides you an opportunity to diversify the market risk by starting with the sale of running items i.e. pencils, legal pads, etc. Once your wholesale brand starts growing, then you can expand your market share by adding some bigger items which are in demand.
Build Supply Network
By dealing with different products and manufacturers at the same time; it helps you to compare different aspects of manufacturers like quality, timely delivery, etc. Once you’re familiar with all the suppliers’ networks, then you can build your own network of suppliers who’ll deliver you the quality product on time. So, you can deliver the same thing to your customers.
Functions of Wholesale
A wholesaler performs the following functions;
Buying and Assembling
Wholesaling begins with choosing a reliable supplier or a manufacturer and then buying goods and products from him at a bulk quantity; sometimes, it involves importing products from abroad.
Warehousing
Now, the wholesaler has the product, the next step is to store the product in the warehouse for a considerable time. Once the demand is created in the market, then the wholesaler can make the product available to retailers and customers.
Packaging
As we know that wholesalers buy products in a bulk quantity; then they sub-classify it into smaller lots or packages to distribute it to the smaller business and retailers by tagging their wholesaling brand name on it.
Transportation
Many wholesalers provide transportation services for the delivery of products from the warehouse to the retailers; transportation not only adds value to the product but also makes it easier for the retailers.
Financing
A very important function of wholesaling is that the wholesalers usually buy products from the manufacturers on a cash basis; then they offer credit to the retailers. Both parties are in short of money; maintaining this cash flow and financing both parties put wholesaler at a very important position.
Risk Bearing
Greater profit of wholesaling also comes with bearing the greater risk as well. For instance, how long the product has to be stored in the warehouse, some products can be damaged with time. A wholesaler is the one who absorbs all the risks.
Types of Wholesalers
There are different types of wholesalers who deal with different products; some of them are as follows;
Merchant Wholesalers
Merchant wholesalers are the ones who don’t have any prior knowledge of the product; what they know is the list of profitable items. They deal with all of the kinds of goods and products and then sell it to the distributors, resellers, retailers and etc.
General Wholesalers
As the name implies, this type of wholesaler often deals with generals items of different products from a variety of manufacturers and suppliers for a range of customers. They usually buy product in a bulk quantity, then sell it in a small quantity to the retailers or small business owners over a period of time.
Specialty Wholesalers
Special wholesalers are very knowledgeable about their product because they are very precise and specific about their product category and industry. They may have multiple suppliers of the same product category, but the product category and industry doesn’t change with manufacturers and suppliers.
Cash and Carry Wholesalers
Cash and carry wholesalers fall in the line of limited wholesaler’s type who offers very limited services to their resellers and retailers. It is because of fast-moving and subtle products like the retailers have to get the product by themselves, no delivery service. For instance, flowers, fruits, vegetables and etc.
Discount Wholesalers
Discount wholesalers usually deal with off seasoned, returned and discontinued products; then selling it by offering some discounts to attract the retailers and customers.
Dropship Wholesalers
Dropshipping is a type of wholesalers that directly delivers the products to the customers, but they use the online platform and traffic of retailers to approach their target customer. In order to do that they sign an online contract with the retailers to make things run smoothly.
Online Wholesalers
This type of wholesaler sells products online by offering a discount on certain products. They don’t have overhead costs like office, building and etc, by reducing such costs they make a profit out of a discounted price.
Examples of Wholesalers
The simplest example of wholesale chain includes manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer and consumer. But there are wholesalers who directly sell to consumers. For example, Costco Wholesale Corporation offers bulk quantity of goods at a discounted price.
Another example of wholesale business is Amazon and Ali Baba. These two b2b marketplaces connect manufactures, wholesalers and buyers. Wholesalers attract buyers because they have the luxury to offer products at lower prices than the retailers and luxury retail store, because they use warehouses which minimize overhead and marketing cost.
