DO's & DON'TS for a Wholesale Business Owner.

Often wholesaler's are thought of as the middle person of the supply chain. They find a large market to sell the product through businesses and companies operating in that market. However, a wholesale business is the one where products are sold in bulk to the retailer at a discounted price.

You must be thinking, how to expand your business? Running a wholesale business could be pretty challenging. Everything has to be planned smartly for better execution, from the hiring to cash flow management to inventory and sales planning. Thus to help wholesale business owners, we have listed down business growth tips - a list of do's and don'ts for wholesalers that will help them with sustainability and growth.

Do's for a Wholesale Business Owner

Wholesale business owners have to ensure that everything they do is top-notch and would generate long-term profits. Our list of do's for the wholesale business owner will be an insightful addition to your business.

1. Hiring Right People

One of the successful small business tips and advice is the proper hiring process. It is an important decision that a business owner has to make for their business. Keep in mind to benchmark each new position and evaluate candidates against the set benchmark. While interviewing the candidates, ask them behavioural questions because it will help clarify how they will work.

2. Control your Inventory

The answer to how to grow your small business? Is bringing inventory under control. Your wholesale business won't be profitable if you don't have a good hand on inventory. Some wholesale distributors keep minimum stock levels in the warehouse; they replenish the stock when the current stock reaches the minimum level. In contrast, other wholesalers keep safety stock to meet unexpected demands. Depending on your wholesale business, track the incoming/outgoing inventory, coordinate inventory levels and do regular physical inventory counts. This will help you in understanding whether the inventory management system is right for your business.

3. Avoid Writing Orders Manually

Writing orders manually is the number one challenge for minimum growth in the wholesale business. Many wholesalers use old clipboards and paper to write their orders. Moreover, some wholesalers use PDF formats and excel spreadsheets to write the orders, but these methods are equally cumbersome. The question is how to grow my business? Well, wholesalers can use mobile order writing technology as a wholesaler can write orders on their smartphones. With a click, they can send product catalogues to their customers and have easy access to customer information and sales reports.

4. Differentiate Customer Service

Wholesale business is a competitive market. Thus, the success mantra and answer to how to grow business? It is differentiating in customer service and not in price. Wholesalers are habitual in determining the price of different brands, thinking that low price will provide them with high sales. This approach might not be practical for their long-term growth. Instead, companies that are differentiating their brands by giving great customer service are getting high returns. Being a wholesaler, you should think about creating a modern and convenient experience for your customers.

5. Provide Success Mantra to your Sales Person

Does your sales representative have every information they need before going for a sales appointment? The futuristic wholesalers know that to add value to their sales in this day and age, the sales representatives have to add value to their conversations with prospective customers. Thus, simply writing down a reorder won't help in answering how to make my business grow? Wholesale businesses need to provide their sales representatives with crucial information like most ordered items, order history of the customer and product stock level. This will help in creating a helpful conversation between the buyer and seller. Plus, you can provide your sales representatives with digital catalogues with customer-specific pricing. This will help sales representatives do their business, i.e. to sell.

6. Invest in eCommerce

Today everything is available digitally. Thus, providing the customers with ordering online creates convenience for them. This creates an expectation in the mind of customers that an item is available 24/7. Wholesale businesses can apply omnichannel strategies- providing customers with the freedom to order through a sales representative, through a mobile device or the web. Digital strategies provide high returns, and wholesalers can create their digital platform to receive speedy returns.

Don'ts for Wholesale Business Owner

There are few common mistakes that wholesaler's make that might hamper their growth. We have a list of don'ts for the wholesale businesses that might be helpful for them.

1. Unnecessary Purchases

It is common for the wholesaler to deliberately buy a lot of stuff to avoid shortage or more supplier discounts. Also, buying large stock quantities without predicting the demand of customers will always hurt the business. The problem with the large stock quantity is that you have to keep them for a long time. This leads to expiry, decay, contamination and ultimately wastage of products. However, right forecasting helps in placing the right order at the right time. Plus, it helps in avoiding excessive inventory.

2. Agreeing with Suppliers

The question a wholesaler might think always is how to expand the business? Sometimes learning to disagree might be a step towards growth. Being a wholesaler, you should not always agree with what the supplier has to say. For instance, they forget to negotiate with suppliers when they offer larger quantities. So, if, as a wholesaler, you don't want large quantities at a go, try to negotiate with them. Also, you can negotiate the prices of goods, shipping cost, terms of payment and product packaging. Negotiation helps in increasing profit margins and reduces operating cost.

3. Forget to Follow Up

As a wholesaler, you might be pitching your products to prospective retail stores. After they make the first purchase, do you bother to follow up? As a wholesaler, you should always follow up as this is the answer to how to make my business grow? The question that you have been asking yourself. Follow up after-sale is an essential thing because it helps in making a connection with buyers. This is a way to show your concern towards your buyers. Ask your buyer about the sales and frequently stay in touch with them.

4. Inefficient Order Fulfilment Process

As a wholesaler, it is essential to ensure faster delivery. Otherwise, the retailer might find another wholesaler or distributor. To avoid this kind of situation, you have to optimise your order fulfilment process. To do so:

• You can reduce lead time - the amount of time between the placement of order and delivery.
• Keep your amount of minimum goods to buy at once low to avoid losing consumers.
• Ensure easy placement of orders for buyers and ask them to pay online.

5. Focus on Price Than Service

In current times, competing on prices could be ineffective. Moreover, consumers think that lower prices materials are bad, and lowering prices prevents your business from being profitable. Thus, focus on giving good customer service. By improving customer service, you would attract more potential buyers and will increase your profits. Also, you can improve customer experiences by providing them with the convenience of online shopping through social media or websites.

Conclusion

Thus, the small business owner always wonders how to grow a business? The competition in the wholesale business is top-notch. Wholesalers face many challenges in these changing trends and have to meet customer demands constantly. They fail while trying to beat these challenges and end up with losses. Wholesalers have to avoid a few things and can add new practices to grow in the market. Visit OKCredit to know more about wholesale business tips.

Also Read:

1) Do's & Don'ts for a Mobile-DTH Recharge shop owner
2) Do's & Don'ts For a Photo Studio Owner
3) Do's & Don'ts for a Dairy Business Owner
4) OkCredit: All you need to know about OkCredit & how it works.

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FAQs

Q. How can controlling inventory help in running a profitable wholesale business?

Ans. Inventory management is beneficial for running a successful wholesale business. Thus having a sufficient inventory will meet the demand and would not lead to a backlog of stock.

Q. How to make the wholesale business profitable?

Ans. Wholesale business can be profitable by hiring the right staff, meeting with the latest trends and creating a balance between demand and supply. Also, improvisation in customer service might lead to an increase in business profits.

Q. Why is it incorrect to run a wholesale business manually?

Ans. Doing everything manually takes a lot of effort and time. Competition has increased in the wholesale business, and as a wholesale business owner, you should outperform your competitors. Also, nowadays, buyers need sellers who can fulfil orders quickly. Thus, doing everything manually slows the growth process.