Before determining a product to sell online, it’s a smart idea to get an understanding of how the wholesale supplier system works. The first thing to understand is that it’s not a well-structured system. Rather, it’s a collection of suppliers from around the globe, some better than others. The advent of eBay changed the supplier system to introduce a number of reliable marketplaces of suppliers.
You need to have a defined niche before you can start looking for the types of available suppliers. Your goal is to collaborate with reputable suppliers who deliver on time, provide a reliable contract, and offer perks for working with them. Depending on the scale of your online operation, you could work with big suppliers in China, but a unique brand would benefit from working with a niche local supplier.
Find and work with the best wholesale suppliers.
You need to decide how you want to fulfill your orders before doing your research. Dropshipping means that the supplier handles everything from storage, packaging, and shipping. Self-fulfillment, or partial self-fulfillment, means you store your inventory somewhere secure and ship to customers. It’s a pricey option, but it gives you more control over the shipping process. Working with a third-party fulfillment company, such as Amazon fulfillment, means you send all of your products to a company that stores and ships them.
Make sure your first conversation is a productive one.
It’s important to establish a professional point-of-contact with your potential supplier. You may speak to a different customer service representative each time you call. Make sure one or two people know you by name and remember details about your relationship. Working with a supplier who takes the time to get to know and remember you saves the time and aggravation of repeating yourself. If you can’t establish contact during the first call, consider your next option on the list. The first call with a company is also an opportunity for you to ask as many questions and learn as much about the supplier that you can.
As an example, consider you’re running an asphalt company. Working with the right supplier should help with the efficiency of your business operations and workflow. Time is money in many industries, including the asphalt business. Terminals that receive asphalt traditionally used gear pumps to unload, transfer, and load asphalt. The viscous product is delivered at a temperature below 270° F which meant terminals had to pre-heat railcars or barges before pumping asphalt with a gear pump. Gear pumps are subject to discharge pressure, which wears them down prematurely. The maintenance costs of an asphalt pump, in addition to the added time, energy, and resources to heat asphalt can set you back.
Screw pumps are an efficient, cost-effective way to pump asphalt products. They can operate at lower speeds, reducing the need to heat asphalt before pumping, and they have relief valves that prevent solidified asphalt from blocking the discharge pipe. Leistritz has over a century of experience as a specialized manufacturer of advanced and innovative products to meet the demands of oil and gas, aerospace, automotive, energy, marine, process, and pharmaceutical industries. They use cutting-edge technology to meet the demands of a variety of customers while providing creative solutions that tackle challenging requests. Building a relationship with such a business is crucial for your own work.
You can and should ask for samples.
Suppliers understand that you need some assurance of the product you’re making an investment in. Many suppliers have gotten in the habit of providing samples, especially for cheaper products. You can’t possibly sell a product that you’ve never physically seen, touched, and tried. A great way to determine potential suppliers is to skip those suppliers on the list who don’t give you samples. If you need to sample multiple products, you can ask for a customized batch of a couple of dozen products. You may be asked to pay for shipping, but at least you can confidently decide on the products worth investing in.
The legality of CBD in the United States has given rise to the popularity of CBD supplements. The cannabinoid receptors in the body’s natural endocannabinoid system positively interact with the presence of cannabinoids like CBD in the body. Cannabinoids have proven physiological effects on the body’s response to stress, pain, inflammation, and anxiety, and are known to improve memory, mood, appetite, pain, and depression.
When it comes to selling CBD products, you need a supplier with a variety of affordable hemp-derived products. Planet Earth CBD offers full-spectrum and isolate CBD in liquids, capsules, powders, and CBD oils. Their CBD is third-party tested for quality assurance, so you can rest assured that you’re investing in a reliable, consistent product. Buying wholesale CBD products is a cost-effective way to maintain well-stocked inventory to meet customer demands.
The Best Platforms to Find Suppliers
Finding the right supplier is one of the first steps to starting an online business. There are countless suppliers, wholesale distributors, dropshippers, and networks available, so you never have to worry if you can’t find a way to produce your items locally.
Alibaba and Aliexpress
Alibaba is a wholesale marketplace of distributors for a variety of product niches. They work mostly with Chinese suppliers and manufacturers, but you can compare options within a product or niche. AliExpress, owned by Alibaba, operates in China to offer international buyers a range of products.
Cokesbury
Cokesbury is your one-stop shop to purchase all of your church supply needs to celebrate the sacraments. You can keep your church stocked with communion ware, baptism needs, devotional candles, and clergy apparel while saving time and enjoying free shipping. They carry children’s bibles and Spanish bibles, processional crosses, spiritual helps by Harper Collins Christian bestsellers, rosaries, nativities, and crucifixes. The church supply store has everything you need to help your ministry succeed.
Oberlo
Oberlo offers a dropshipping service that connects directly with Shopify. The supplier offers a variety of products from fashion to tech. They also provide customers insights, analytics, and user-intuitive tools for Shopify sites.
IPv4 Address Broker
In the early days of the internet, organizations received large blocks of Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) address spaces. Not every organization uses its IPv4 blocks, which have a monetary value. It can be a complicated process to sell IP address, which is by Brander Group helps customers identify their IPv4 addresses, make the IPv4 more efficient, quantify the IPs price, and facilitate the sale and transfer of IPv4 blocks on the secondary market.
The broker provides guidance and support with the American Registry of Internet Numbers (ARIN), RIPE, and APNIC to ensure the IPv4 can be sold without issue. Each IPv4 block is run through blacklist software to ensure a clean reputation and comes with a detailed report with tips for quick removal if the IPv4 is blacklisted. The broker then matches a verified seller with a qualified buyer who needs to purchase IPv4 blocks within 30 days.
eBay Business Supply
eBay Business Supply isn’t a supplier per se, but the e-commerce platform does help businesses connect with wholesale products and supplies from different providers by industry.
Worldwide Brands
Worldwide Brands is a directory of global wholesale distributors. It’s one of the more established marketplaces available that helps users find wholesalers or dropshippers.
Spocket
Spocket is a dropshipping company that helps you find original products made in the U.S. and Europe. You can shop by product type and country of origin to find the right items for your business.
You can’t go into business without having a reliable, affordable supplier to source your inventory from. The best supplier aligns with your shipping model, allows you to make a point of contact during your first call, and accommodates requests for samples before making a purchase commitment.
