Who is a Wholesaler?

A Wholesaler is a middleman distributor that deals in the distribution of goods from manufacturers to retailers. The wholesaler buys in large quantities that attract discounts and lower prices. He is a part of the supply chain but sometimes is not necessarily needed.

Wholesalers are dealers in one particular good or niche of products; they do not engage in the sales of a wide variety of goods. Although this is not to say that they have affiliation with particular manufacturers, they are not after the profitability of a manufacturer’s business or increase in his brand awareness, and they are mainly a distribution enterprise that distributes finished products to a ready-made market. This factor is what distinguishes them from distributors. Distributors engage in marketing and advertisement activity for brands whose products they distribute. Another thing worthy of note is the fact that it is the culture with wholesaling for prices always to differ. There are no set prices. Prices are set based on the bargaining power and quantity to be purchased by each buyer.

Wholesalers exist as both traditional and E-commerce wholesalers. Traditionally, they operate with features such as warehouses, paper receipts, delivery services, a large staff base, and the likes. But the advent of technology has resulted in changes in several areas of man’s life. Just like technology is changing the way we do main scale things like health, communication, power, and a long list of others, the way we trade and make exchanges is also not left out.

This single factor is the more reason every business owner is taking to the internet and leveraging on internet commerce.

It involves online ordering software, sales portal, online presence, and online payment options.

Types of a Wholesalers

Merchant Wholesale

These wholesalers buy in bulk from manufacturers, have warehouses where they store goods, and then sell out to retailers. While they are an online store, they still have physical locations where they do a lot of behind-the-scenes operations.

Agents/brokers Wholesale

This category of online wholesaling stores does not own goods. They are opposed to merchant Wholesale E-commerce. They take orders from buyers, communicate these orders to manufactures, make plans for delivery of requests from the manufacturer’s warehouse to the customer’s doorstep, and get his mark up for handling the logistics.