How to sell wholesale products online

Do you have a wholesale brand? Do you want to learn how to sell your wholesale products online?

Great! Because supplementing your wholesale business with an online presence and digital sales tools is a sure shot way to boost sales and ensure the future of your wholesale business in a digital world.

In this blog post, we are going to show you how to sell your wholesale products online – but more importantly, why you should sell your wholesale products online.

But first, let’s briefly go over the definition of wholesale.

What is wholesale

If you’ve clicked this blog post, there is a fair chance that you already know what wholesale is. Nevertheless – to ensure we are on the same page – here is a brief explanation of what wholesale is. For a longer – more in-depth – explanation, we recommend reading our blog post dedicated to the topic:

Wholesale distribution: The definitive guide

Characteristics of wholesale.

Wholesale is transactions that include large quantities of goods. Due to the order size and quantities in a typical wholesale order, wholesale most often takes place between businesses. This also means that most wholesale transactions are B2B (Business to Business).

Another characteristic of wholesale is that the price paid per unit typically is lower than the price per unit in retail. The reason is, of course, that the wholesale customers get a bulk discount for purchasing a large quantity of the same product.

Producing and selling in bulk enables the brands and manufacturers to utilize economies of scale. As such, they can offer their products at an advantageous price.

The typical customers in a wholesale transaction are retailers. They buy products in bulk and resell them to consumers at a higher price per unit.

What is an online wholesale?

Online wholesale is essentially the same as wholesale described above – only, it’s online.

So instead of relying on printed wholesale order forms, physical sales visits, emails, and phone calls, the wholesale brand uses an online wholesale order platform to accept orders from retailers.

The whole idea of online wholesale is to make it easier for wholesale customers to order. And easier for the wholesale brand to manage their sales as well.

The wholesale brand uses an online wholesale platform to manage its products and B2B customers. Built into this wholesale platform is a wholesale ordering system. This system is essentially the same as any other webshop you’ve encountered while shopping online.

The difference is, that it’s built on top of the complex wholesale platform. Therefore, it can handle all wholesale-specific “quirks” (differentiated pricing, customer-specific terms, etc.).

How to sell wholesale products online

There are different ways to sell your wholesale products online. Typically, we distinguish between selling wholesale online directly or selling wholesale online via a marketplace.

Online marketplace wholesale

An online wholesale marketplace is exactly what it sounds like; a marketplace for sellers and buyers to meet and trade. As the selling party, you upload your products to the marketplace, making them available to purchase for all wholesale customers signed up for the online marketplace. Everyone who “come by” your virtual stand is allowed to purchase your products.

This means that you, as the wholesale brand, have little to no control over the online wholesale platform. Instead, the owners of the marketplace control the platform.

Online direct wholesale

When you are selling wholesale online directly, you use your own private wholesale order platform for your retailers to order from. This is a “closed” wholesale webshop that is password-protected and only available to the B2B customers that you’ve decided to invite.

Using your own private wholesale platform ensures that you keep full control of your products. You decide who can purchase them for resell in their retail stores and who can’t.

If you are interested in learning more about the differences between selling your wholesale products directly or via a marketplace, please read our blog post dedicated to that topic:

Why you should sell your wholesale products online

Last but not least, let’s talk about why you should sell your wholesale products online. And believe us when we say that there are some pretty good reasons why!

Online wholesale improves productivity

Selling your wholesale products online is a very effective alternative to using printed price lists, phone calls, and numerous emails.

Wholesale E-commerce speeds up the order process and saves a ton of work on both ends of the transaction.

It’s easy and intuitive for wholesale customers to order. After all, most of them are quite familiar with the concept of online shopping from their personal life.

The brand selling its wholesale products online will reduce the time spent manually handling wholesale orders. Integrations with ERP systems, accounting systems, and shipping software will ensure that there are no typing errors and no order mistakes. All in all, online wholesale will improve the productivity of your wholesale business.

Online wholesale increases revenue

Another benefit of selling your wholesale products online is more sales and increased revenue.

There are multiple reasons why online wholesale brings about this effect. If you are selling your products via a wholesale marketplace, your products will be exposed to new wholesale customers. Obviously, this is a great way to sell more.

When you are selling your wholesale products online directly to the retailers, you will experience that your regular customers are more inclined to try new products. Being able to see your products in your wholesale webshop entices them to try something new instead of ordering the same products every time.

Furthermore, you will find that some retailers will simply refuse to order from anything other than an online wholesale order platform. So if you do not offer them the option of ordering online, they’ll find someone else who will.

Start selling your wholesale products online today!

Improved productivity, increased revenue, and a whole lot of other benefits of selling your wholesale products online. What’s not to like?

Start selling your wholesale products online today. Sign up for the free wholesale eCommerce platform, Turis, using the button below.