Selling industrial machinery and equipment online is not always simple. There are many things to handle at once, from products to pricing to taxes.
Kalamazoo Industries, a manufacturer of industrial machinery and equipment, encountered these same obstacles. As they started offering wholesale, they needed a way to serve both wholesale and retail customers while keeping their prices and taxes accurate.
In this case study, we will share how Kalamazoo Industries used Wholesale Suite to improve their industrial machinery and equipment wholesale operations. You will learn about the hurdles they faced, the solutions they implemented, and how they simplified their online wholesale processes.
Let’s get to it!
About Kalamazoo Industries
Kalamazoo Industries, Inc., is a US-based manufacturer of industrial machinery and equipment. It has been building its products in Kalamazoo, Michigan, since 1960. It has built a range of equipment from abrasive cut-off saws, belt sanders, 5C fixtures, and vibratory finishers.
Their industrial machinery and equipment are trusted by metal fabrication shops, machine builders, and industrial suppliers across the state. Most of their standard products can also be modified to suit specific needs. Also, they can build special machines based on customer specifications.
All of their products are sold through dealers nationwide. This gives them a broad reach in the industrial machinery and equipment market.
While Kalamazoo Industries has been selling through its website, it has opened a wholesale channel to serve its B2B customers better. This addition allows distributors and industrial buyers to access dealer-exclusive pricing, tax arrangements, and bulk ordering options when purchasing industrial machinery and equipment.
Challenges Of Managing Wholesale For Industrial Machinery And Equipment
When Kalamazoo Industries began offering wholesale in the first quarter of 2025, they faced several challenges in managing their industrial machinery and equipment sales online.
One of the most challenging tasks was ensuring that the right plugins were installed on their website. They needed a solution that could handle the unique pricing structure of their industrial machinery and equipment.
We weren’t using any plugins for wholesale pricing. We started offering wholesale operations in the first quarter of this year (2025). The biggest hurdles were making sure the plugins were installed correctly and entering the individual data on each page, since each item has different wholesale pricing.
—Aaron Allen, Sales and Marketing, Kalamazoo Industries
Entering the individual data for each product became time-consuming. Since Kalamazoo Industries sells a wide variety of industrial machinery and equipment, they had to set up each product page carefully. This included adding the correct pricing and making sure tax rules applied depending on the type of customer.
At that time, they were not using any other plugins or automation systems for their wholesale pricing. This made the process harder, as they did not have an existing system to rely on. Managing industrial machinery and equipment sales online requires attention to detail, especially when dealing with taxes and pricing for different customer groups.
Soon after, it became clear to them that they needed a better system that could support their industrial machinery and equipment business and, thus, their wholesale operations.
Choosing Wholesale Suite To Manage Industrial Machinery And Equipment Wholesale Sales
Kalamazoo Industries knew they needed a reliable solution to manage their growing wholesale channel.
One key reason they selected Wholesale Suite was the ability to separate wholesale dealers from general customers. Since their industrial machinery and equipment are sold both to the public and to distributors, having different pricing for each group was necessary.
With Wholesale Suite, Kalamazoo Industries can now set separate pricing rules for wholesale buyers. This feature allows them to assign specific pricing for every industrial machinery and equipment item, ensuring that wholesale customers see dealer-exclusive prices while retail customers see standard prices.
Another valuable feature they found useful was tax management. Wholesale Suite gave them the flexibility to collect or not collect taxes based on their state’s requirements. This is especially important when selling industrial machinery and equipment to tax-exempt customers.
Kalamazoo Industries also made use of tiered pricing, a feature that allows them to offer discounts depending on the order quantity. This can work well for their industrial machinery and equipment wholesale customers, who can now place bulk orders.
We are currently using tiered pricing and can now separate wholesale dealers and general customers, each with different pricing. We can also choose how to collect taxes in our state.
—Aaron Allen, Sales and Marketing, Kalamazoo Industries
Although the process of setting up the data was still detailed, Wholesale Suite made the experience easier. They were able to organize their industrial machinery and equipment product pages with the correct wholesale pricing, tax settings, and customer rules.
What Kalamazoo Industries Recommends To Other Wholesale Stores
For Kalamazoo Industries, offering wholesale for industrial machinery and equipment was a new chapter in their business. Looking back, they shared that starting with the right tools made a real difference.
If they could tell other businesses something based on their experience, it would be this: You must think about your wholesale setup early on.
They found that using Wholesale Suite at the start of building their online store helped them save time and avoid reworking their processes later. Since their store carries many types of industrial machinery and equipment, each with different prices and tax rules, having the right system in place from the beginning made everything easier.
Overall, it’s a good product [Wholesale Suite] and I would recommend it to anyone looking to have an online store. It works with WooCommerce tax collection, and you can upload your tax-exempt form so you won’t be charged taxes if you’re logged into your account. You can also apply tiered pricing and much more.
—Aaron Allen, Sales and Marketing, Kalamazoo Industries
Dealing with taxes and exempt forms
They also learned that taxes can get tricky, especially when some customers are tax-exempt and others are not. Having a system that lets customers upload tax-exempt forms and automatically applies the correct tax rules took the pressure off their team. It also made the buying process smoother for their industrial machinery and equipment customers.
Kalamazoo Industries described Wholesale Suite as a product that helped them keep their store organized and easy to manage. Setting tiered pricing, managing taxes, and making sure wholesale customers saw the right prices were key parts of their success in the industrial machinery and equipment market.
We have many layers to our website, so currently we are fine-tuning everything. One recommendation is to implement it when you’re building a new online store, as it will save time—but that depends on how many products you offer and whether you are required to collect taxes, or if you want to waive taxes when your customers can provide the appropriate form.
—Aaron Allen, Sales and Marketing, Kalamazoo Industries
While they admit that setting up all the product data took some time, they feel that the long-term benefits are worth it. For businesses planning to sell industrial machinery and equipment wholesale, they suggest taking the time to put these systems in place. It helps avoid headaches later and gives you more time to focus on serving your customers.
Why Having The Right Tools Matters When Selling Wholesale
Selling industrial machinery and equipment wholesale is not as simple as adding products to a website. Here are some reasons why businesses need tools like Wholesale Suite to handle B2B wholesale operations properly:
1. Managing different prices for different customers
Kalamazoo Industries learned that wholesale customers expect pricing that is different from that of regular shoppers. Since their industrial machinery and equipment come in many types and have various costs, managing these prices by hand would take too much time. Wholesale Suite helped them by letting them set dealer-only prices that are visible only when wholesale customers are logged in. This helped avoid confusion and made it easier for their team to keep pricing organized.
2. Offering tiered discounts based on order size
Many buyers of industrial machinery and equipment expect discounts when they buy more. Kalamazoo Industries used Wholesale Suite’s tiered pricing feature to make sure customers received better prices when ordering in larger amounts. This helped them avoid manual price adjustments and kept the ordering process fast and accurate for both the business and the customer.
3. Handling taxes correctly for each customer group
Taxes can get complicated when selling industrial machinery and equipment, especially when some customers are tax-exempt and others are not. Kalamazoo Industries needed a system that could handle both situations. Wholesale Suite allowed its customers to upload tax-exempt forms during registration or checkout. The system then knew whether to apply or remove taxes based on the account status, which saved the team time and prevented mistakes.
4. Saving time and reducing errors in wholesale orders
Kalamazoo Industries also noticed that manually managing orders led to errors. Wrong prices, missed discounts, and incorrect tax applications were common issues when handling industrial machinery and equipment sales manually. By using Wholesale Suite, they reduced these mistakes because the system managed these details in the background. This gave their team more time to focus on other important tasks while keeping the orders accurate.
5. Helping businesses focus on serving customers, not just managing systems
With the right tools in place, Kalamazoo Industries found they had more time to focus on helping their customers rather than spending hours managing their store. Wholesale Suite handled tasks like pricing, taxes, and order processing, giving their team more freedom to do management tasks, assist buyers, and support their industrial machinery and equipment customers better.
Takeaways
Kalamazoo Industries’ journey shows how important it is to have the correct setup when selling industrial machinery and equipment wholesale. By using Wholesale Suite, they were able to overcome the common challenges that come with B2B sales.
In this article, we discussed how Kalamazoo Industries used Wholesale Suite to improve their industrial machinery and equipment wholesale operations:
- About Kalamazoo Industries
- Challenges of managing wholesale
- Choosing Wholesale Suite for wholesale sales
- Kalamazoo Industries recommendations
- Why having the right tools matters
Their experience highlights that running a successful industrial machinery and equipment wholesale store is not just about having great products. It is also about creating an ordering system that is easy for both the business and its customers to use. Wholesale Suite helped Kalamazoo Industries do exactly that by giving them tools to manage pricing, taxes, and customer accounts all in one place.
For businesses that sell industrial machinery and equipment or other products wholesale, Kalamazoo Industries’ story is a good example of how the right tools can help make the process easier. Instead of spending hours fixing prices or checking tax forms, they can now focus more on their customers and keep their wholesale operations running smoothly.
Are you ready to make wholesale orders easier for your customers, too? Give us your thoughts in the comment section below!
