There are many online directories where you can find a list of the best wholesale suppliers to source all types of products. You can find suppliers and relevant information easily through online directories. Online directories like Alibaba make it easier to find international wholesale suppliers. Attending the best retail trade shows is another way to discover potential wholesale suppliers. Trade shows are exhibitions held by different industries where wholesalers and manufacturers display their latest products.
It allows retailers to ask their questions directly with manufacturers and wholesale distributors and build a list of wholesaler options to choose from. Trade show participants usually provide special deals during the event, which are great, especially for beginner retailers.
Look for business-to-business or industry-only trade shows that you can search by industry, date, city, state, or country and event name. If you use Alibaba or AliExpress for sourcing products, consider attending major trade shows such as:. Attending these trade shows allows retailers to close deals faster. These events are well organized, so you can plan ahead for your travel.
Get every magazine or newsletter that targets retailers in your industry. Keep in mind that every advertiser in these types of publications will most likely be a product manufacturer or distributor.
You should find a few dozen options from the ads in the back of the magazine. Unlike supplier websites, trade publications usually contain ads with up-to-date contact details and are expecting retailers like you to give them a call. You might have noticed that most supplier websites are rarely updated. Click through to see what sticks out to you. Google also has other elements on SERPs that can help you refine your queries and discover potential wholesale suppliers.
Where can you find drop ship suppliers, wholesalers or factories to manufacture your products? When my wife and I first started our online business, we had these exact same questions.
The correct approach for finding a small business wholesale supplier or factory is highly dependent on your ecommerce business model. For example, the methodology for finding a dropship supplier is completely different than finding a private label manufacturer. As a result, this post will discuss the best wholesale suppliers depending on whether you…. If you are interested in starting an ecommerce business, I put together a comprehensive package of resources that will help you launch your own online store from complete scratch.
Be sure to grab it before you leave! Click Here To Download. Most people fall into the trap of wanting to dropship when they start their first online store.
Dropshipping seems appealing for several reasons. Whenever an order comes in, you simply place the exact same order to the drop shipper and collect the profit based on the difference in selling price. There is no inventory , no fulfillment obligations and all you have to do is take orders.
For example, sometimes your drop ship wholesale supplier will mess up your order or ship your product late. Sometimes your drop shipper will send defective merchandise. In a nutshell, you are staking the reputation of your business on a 3rd party who may not have your interests in mind. There are no hassles. That being said, drop shipping is an excellent way to fill in gaps in your overall product line. Instead of launching a store with only 3 products, I can fill out my selection with drop shipped goods.
For those who are apprehensive about starting a small business, dropshipping is also a good way to dip your toes in ecommerce without risking a lot of money. While I would never base my online store solely on drop shipping, an easy way to find companies willing to drop ship is via a service called Worldwide Brands. That being said, most wholesale suppliers will not want to drop ship for you unless you can demonstrate that you are a legit business that can drive sales.
For information on how to start a dropshipped business and approach a dropship vendor, read the following posts. Print on demand is a form of dropshipping where you work with a supplier to print your own custom designs on white label products like a t-shirts, mugs, pillows etc…. No money is required upfront. When your customer makes a purchase, the print on demand company builds your product with your design on the fly and ships it to your customer.
Here are my top 3 print on demand companies to work with. Sure, they were cheaper than MSRP MSRP is just a made up number anyway , but the wholesale prices were sufficiently high that the profit margins would have been on the low end for the products we wanted to sell. To make things worse, there were already a large number of competitors selling the exact same products at close to the wholesale price.
While sourcing your products from the US or your home country is generally going to be more expensive , it does have its advantages. Because many products are not made in the United States anymore, wholesale suppliers take care of all the hassle of importing and warehousing the goods from the manufacturer.
You just place your order and the merchandise appears at your doorstep. Finding domestic wholesale suppliers also saves you time from having to perform extensive quality control checks on your merchandise because presumably the wholesale supplier has gone through it all already.
The simplest way to find a small business wholesale supplier in the US is by Googling the company of the product you want to sell , going on their website, and finding out who their wholesale distributors are. And depending on the item and the brand, the minimum order can be as low as a hundred dollars.
Another great way to find wholesale merchandise is by attending local trade shows. For example, Wholesale Central is a wholesale directory that contains a list of wholesale companies and wholesale trade shows in the US. All supplier information is sorted by product category and you can easily find a niche specific convention to attend. The best wholesale suppliers can be found at trade shows because they go through a vetting process and have the funds to invest in a booth.
If you live near a major city, you should definitely go and check out a trade show if you have the time. All you need is a sellers permit and admission is free for most shows. Outside of Wholesale Central, you can also find many niche specific online wholesale directories by using Google. Buying direct from the manufacturer is the holy grail of merchandising , but it also takes the most amount of work, dedication and time.
These days, almost everything is manufactured overseas because the labor costs are much cheaper. Buying direct from the manufacturer or from overseas vendors is the best way to obtain the lowest prices , but it also presents the greatest upfront headaches.
Despite the hassles of importing from China , it is definitely worth it. The wholesale prices are unbeatable and the upfront investment pays for itself in the long run. You will be able to competitively price your products. You will be able to out price the larger chains and you will be able to differentiate yourself from the competition. Once you have confidence in your manufacturers, you can design your own custom products and that is where the big money starts to kick in.
If you can fabricate your own designs or make small improvements to existing ones, you have the potential to sell products that no other store can offer. A great place to start is online. There are a variety of online directories for overseas manufacturers. For example, Alibaba. Both Alibaba and Global Sources vet all of their factories and provide you with useful information so you can quickly find the best suppliers.
In addition, with a click of a button, you can easily contact a Chinese supplier directly and ask for quotes, minimum order quantities and lead times. In general, both Alibaba and Global Sources allow you to quickly access thousands of vendors without having to travel to Asia. Even though the vendor reviews on Alibaba and Global Sources are helpful for evaluating potential suppliers, an even faster way to vet great suppliers is to spy on who your competitors are using.
In fact, you can easily steal wholesale suppliers from your competition by leveraging the Jungle Scout supplier database. Every sea shipping container that enters the United States must clear customs before it is allowed to cross the border. And during this process, every shipment is carefully documented in the US customs database. All of this information is freely available to the public and a supplier database tool allows you to quickly browse the shipments for every company that imports into the United States by sea.
For example, here is a sample shipping document bill of lading for The North Face. This information is extremely powerful! My favorite supplier database tool is called the Jungle Scout Supplier Database. For a small fee, you can quickly find the best suppliers your competition is using! Below is a video demo I created on how to use the Jungle Scout supplier database tool to find your suppliers. And if you can, hop on a plane and visit them directly.
Especially if you are dealing with Asian vendors, face to face communication is strongly preferred in order to establish a good relationship. Two, you will get to see their entire inventory of products in person to judge their quality. And three, you will be able to place a face with a name and get to know them on a personal level. Before meeting our first vendor face to face, I remember picturing him as a sleazy Asian dude wearing a wife beater and smoking a cigarette.
Much to my surprise, our supplier was actually clean cut and a pleasant, honest looking fellow. After meeting him face to face, I had much more confidence in ordering from him. Because face to face communication is so important, my wife and I travel to China and Hong Kong every other year to visit our vendors.
While finding and contacting vendors via Alibaba and Global Sources is fairly straightforward, it is a very slow and cumbersome process. Add in the time difference and you only have a small window of time everyday to communicate. But what if you could contact and see sample products for thousands of Chinese vendors all at once in a single location? What if you could see and touch all of the merchandise without having to wait several weeks?
Because so many different vendors congregate at these fairs and bring their merchandise with them, you can easily cover hundreds of vendors in the span of just a few days.
Everything is right there at your fingertips. If you are finding your Asian vendors via Global Sources and Alibaba, keep in mind that these two services have different strengths. If you are sourcing electronics, then Global Sources is by far the better service. But on the flip side, the vendors on Global Sources are more established and prefer to work with companies with greater purchasing power.
As a result, the minimum order quantities tend to be higher. Some companies on Alibaba are trading companies. Some listings are individuals doing wholesale arbitrage online.
While the wholesale price for your goods will tend to be cheaper if purchased from China, importing from Asia will not always be the right answer for everyone. There are many factors that you need to take into account. First off, the main advantage of importing from China is that the labor costs are significantly cheaper. Therefore if you want to sell products that are labor intensive to create, going with China will almost always be cheaper.
So textiles, clothing and anything that needs to be handmade are ideal candidates for importing. The cost of plastic between the US and Asia will probably not differ enough to warrant manufacturing in China. The other thing you need to consider are the minimum order quantities and the cost of shipping and customs. Note: I created a true landed cost of goods shipping calculator that you should check out if you plan on importing from overseas.
Click here to check it out. A lot of people come to me and ask if China is the right answer when manufacturing t shirts and dresses.
If you are doing huge volumes, then the answer is yes. But for most small business owners, making clothing in China is overkill. Only once you have the patterns down and know that you can sell in sufficient volume should you import a large quantity.
If you want to manufacture your own products in the US , there are many ways to find a reliable supplier. For textiles and clothing, you can visit the local garment district in your area. You can also use Google and look for local manufacturers, wholesale companies and product designers.
If you are specifically looking to sell ready made wholesale clothing , you can try the following companies in the US. Most of their items are sold in bundles of 6 and they offer very reasonable pricing on their items. Overall, they have one of the largest selections of wholesale clothing in the United States spanning accessories, jewelry scarves, makeup accessories and clothing for all seasons and occasions. Once you are ready for larger scale manufacturing, then finding wholesale suppliers in China makes the most economic sense.
Just to give you an idea of pricing, you can buy a blank t-shirt in China for as little as 50 cents depending on quality. In many cases, you have to order pieces per size as well. As a result, manufacturing clothing in China carries a large upfront investment.
In general, you should only order designs from China that you know you can sell in volume. In addition to finding clothing manufacturers on Alibaba and Global Sources, you can also look at ChinaBrands. How you prefer to obtain your goods from your suppliers is up to you, but buying direct is a no brainer in my book. The more work that you are willing to put into your small business, the more profits that you will make. Subscribe Free! See Top Product Sources.
Leaf Retailer Magazine B2B Magazine delivering the information you need to navigate the challenges of this growing industry. Subscribe FREE. Montana Department of Agriculture. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights.
Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Online Business Daily Operations. Table of Contents Expand. Table of Contents. Find the Right Wholesale Supplier. Understand Distribution Channels. Try the Manufacturer First. Have a Productive First Contact. Get Specific in Online Searches. Look for Wholesale Lots on eBay. Check Major B2B Marketplaces. Join Professional Networks.
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