Work at Home Idea:
Start a Wholesale Distribution Business
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When it comes to getting goods from the thousands of product manufacturers into the hands of consumers worldwide, the role of wholesale distributor is a crucial one, because neither manufacturers nor the businesses that buy their products for resale could survive without them.
Not quite sure what wholesale distributors do? Quite simply, they're middlemen. They buy products from manufacturers, then sell them to retailers at a profit. The good news is, with millions of products on the market and new products being introduced every day, this field has plenty of room for growth. And this guide will tell you everything you need to know to take advantage of that growth. We'll show you how to:
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determine your operating costs
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raise start-up funds
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find manufacturers and retailers interested in your services
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negotiate the best deals
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get product "exclusives"
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learn insider secrets for overcoming the competition
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and more
If you have excellent people skills, a background in sales and operations, and are able to understand customer needs and learn how to serve them well, you'll probably make a success of a wholesale distribution business. Find out how by ordering your guide today.
This guide from Entrepreneur.com is necessary before diving into this home business venture.
Book Excerpt
So you want to start a wholesale distributorship. Whether you’re currently a white-collar professional, a manager worried about being downsized, or bored with your current job, this may be the right business for you. Much like the merchant traders of the 18th century, you’ll be trading goods for profit. And while the romantic notion of standing on a dock in the dead of night haggling over a tea shipment may be a bit far-fetched, the modern-day wholesale distributor evolved from those hardy traders who bought and sold goods hundreds of years ago.
The Distributor’s Role
As you probably know, manufacturers produce products and retailers sell them to end-users. A can of motor oil, for example, is manufactured and packaged, then sold to automobile owners through retail outlets and/or repair shops. In between, however, there are a few key operators—also known as distributors—that serve to move the product from manufacturer to market. Some are retail distributors, the kind that sell directly to consumers (end users). Others are known as merchant wholesale distributors; they buy products from the manufacturer or other source, then move them from their warehouses to companies that either want to resell the products to end users or use them in their own operations.
According to U.S. Industry and Trade Outlook, a yearly publication issued by The McGraw-Hill Companies and the U.S. Department of Commerce/International Trade Administration, wholesale trade in-cludes establishments that sell products to retailers, merchants, contractors and/or industrial, institutional and commercial users. Wholesale distribution firms, which sell both durable goods (furniture, office equipment, industrial supplies and other goods that can be used repeatedly) and nondurable goods (printing and writing paper, groceries, chemicals and periodicals), don’t sell to ultimate household consumers.
Three types of operations can perform the functions of wholesale trade: wholesale distributors; manufacturers’ sales branches and offices; and agents, brokers and commission agents. As a wholesale distributor, you will probably run an independently owned and operated firm that buys and sells products of which you have taken ownership. Generally, such operations are run from one or more warehouses where inventory goods are received and later shipped to customers.
Put simply, as the owner of a wholesale distributorship, you will be buying goods to sell at a profit, much like a retailer would. The only difference is that you’ll be working in a business-to-business realm by selling to retail companies and other wholesale firms like your own, and not to the buying public. This is, however, somewhat of a traditional definition. For example, companies like Sam’s Club and BJ’s Warehouse have been using warehouse membership clubs, where consumers are able to buy at what appear to be wholesale prices, for some time now, thus blurring the lines. However, the traditional wholesale distributor is still the one who buys “from the source” and sells to a reseller.
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This guide from Entrepreneur.com is necessary before diving into this home business venture.
Disclaimer: The information presented and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors
and do not necessarily represent the views of Work-at-Home-Business.com and/or its partners.
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