Do you want to sell your products wholesale? If so, what makes your site special enough for you to land your first wholesale deal? If you’re out of answers, you’re out of luck. Most websites that sell products wholesale won’t even consider taking interested customers’ offers.
New online business owners mostly struggle to find their first wholesale customers. But, finding your first wholesale buyer is one of the most important things that you need to focus on. Don’t worry, though, because you have what it takes to make that happen!
All you need is a wholesaler account, and you’ll be able to post your products for sale at a fraction of the cost they normally are. In this post, we will tackle how to find wholesale buyers and how you can negotiate your first wholesale deal. Let’s get started with how to land your first wholesale deal!
7 Tips to Find Wholesale Buyers In WooCommerce
Finding wholesale buyers for your e-commerce site can be a challenging, time-consuming process. To make sure that you’re getting the best deal possible, keep reading to discover how you can find wholesalers interested in selling to your customers.
Although it might not feel like it at this point in time, the e-commerce space is only growing. New players are entering the market every day, and some of them may have an interest in partnering with big software brands to bring their products to a new audience.
If you’ve been operating an online store for long enough, you’ll most likely have seen the rise of third-party sellers. These independent vendors operate within your brand’s online store and will sell whatever product is available from within your brand’s product category.
So, what makes these vendors different from regular merchants? Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can find more wholesale buyers in your store:
1. Search for prospective wholesale buyers
You can look up on the Internet for prospective wholesale buyers who are looking for similar products and who also have the same customers as yours.
According to SBA, “Search the Internet –Search for wholesalers by product to help you pinpoint suppliers, then add your zip code to the search so that your results are localized. You can also search YellowPages.com and online associations, trade directories, or wholesale directories such as Wholesale Central or Wholesale Network.”
You can also check online forums and other sites such as Quora to check how other similar businesses have found wholesale customers.
2. Attend Networking Events
Traditional face-to-face meetings are still effective if you want to meet and be taken seriously by new clients and wholesale buyers. There’s nothing like meeting prospective buyers.
You can search for local networking events in your area such as tradeshows, exhibits, conferences, and seminars. You can join local business groups such as the Chamber of Commerce to further expand your connections.
Once you are in the networking event, get as much of your business out there to business owners who might possibly be one of your wholesale buyers.
According to SBA, “Trade shows are great venues for finding wholesalers if you’ve got the budget and the time. Trade show directories such as TSNN and 10times can help you pinpoint events by industry and location. “
3. Look at your Existing Customers
You can take a look at the list of your existing customers. To do this automatically in your online store, you can install the WooCommerce Order/ Customer CSV Export that immediately compiles a list of customers and their respective orders. This will let you identify which customers are individual or wholesale businesses.
After that, you can reach out to these prospective wholesale buyers via email or phone. There are different ways to contact these wholesale buyers-phone calls, emails, Skype, and Facebook. Maximize online technologies to reach out to buyers located in another state or country.
Moreover, you can set an appointment with a prospective wholesale buyer. It’s better to see them in person than simply sending an email.
If you already have customers, you can ask them directly if they know wholesale buyers and if they can refer you to them.
4. Introduce your business and products
Be confident when introducing your business. Show them that your business is stable and steady. Introduce your company and products either in person or online. Give or send your business card that should contain your name, contact number, email, and online store website address.
Bring or email catalogs, brochures, sample products, and newsletters to the wholesale buyer. You can also bring up about large discounts and special offers exclusive to wholesale buyers.
5. Join tradeshows and exhibits
You can also join tradeshows where you can exhibit your products to wholesale customers and possible investors. Be proactive in attracting people to your booths such as games, and free samples, and warmly welcome them.
You can also get to meet other business owners. Approach different booths and get to know the store owners. Talk to different business owners about how they get wholesale buyers. They can give you referrals of prospective buyers that will take interest in buying your products.
6. Promote online
Promote your online store on various social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube, and others channels. Moreover, register your business in Google Business so that you can be searched by customers via Google Search and Google Maps.
Set up or update your social media pages and accounts to keep attracting new subscribers. You can also start a blog to highlight the pain points or problems of customers that your products can solve.
With the Christmas holidays coming up, you can promote posts or run an ad online highlighting limited-time offers and big discounts if customers buy in bulk.
To know more, you can read our post on how to promote products to wholesale buyers,
7. Follow-up
One of the most important things that you need to do is to follow up with prospective wholesale buyers. A lot of wholesale buyers might take some time before getting back to you, and some will outright reject you. There are also wholesale buyers who will take an interest in your products but have clarifications or questions before they commit.
Either way, you need to consistently follow up with these prospective wholesale buyers. You can also prepare follow-up email templates to ask them when they are available to discuss or to set a meeting with them. You can also call them to follow up on the status of your request or proposal.
How to Negotiate with Wholesale Buyers
For new online business owners, negotiating a deal with wholesale buyers can be nerve-wracking at times. In order to land your first wholesale deal, you need to control your nerves and learn how to negotiate with them. Here are the tips that will help you land a deal with wholesale customers.
1. Decide on the Terms and Conditions, Requirements, Pricing Tier
You must know the requirements, terms, policies, and payment schemes of the wholesale buyer. You must know what you are signing into; thus, the buyer must be transparent as to their conditions for buying wholesale.
You should also decide on your store’s volume discounts, pricing tier, processing time, and shipping and return policies. You can prepare a standard binding contract with wholesale buyers; or, make a modified contract to suit the terms of the wholesale buyers. After polishing the contract or agreement, have your attorney review it before both you and the wholesale buyer sign on the dot.
2. Maintain a good relationship
Discuss with your wholesale customers their wholesale needs. If there are terms that need to be clarified, air them out with your buyer. Have open, constant communication with the buyer so that if there are problems along the way, both of you can easily fix them.
You must establish and maintain a good relationship with buyers.
3. Look at your competitors
Research your competitors and the wholesale pricing tier that they offer to buyers. It would be great if you know what your competitors are doing to land big wholesale buyers.
4. Negotiate for a better deal
Once you’ve discussed the terms and conditions, don’t hesitate to negotiate better terms of the agreement and wholesale pricing with the buyer. Since buyers are also business owners like you, it is expected that they would negotiate the lowest price possible.
Thus, you should think of the cost and profit margin so that you can negotiate better wholesale pricing and payment terms that would be beneficial for both you and the wholesale buyer.
Meet the wholesale buyers to discuss shipping methods, payment terms, wholesale pricing tier, and other related wholesale purchase arrangements.
Conclusion
The next step is to act on these tips knowing that this involves trial and error on your part to see what works and what doesn’t. These are just some of the general tips to help you land your first wholesale deal. Have you tried any of these tips? Let us know in the comments section below.
want to start an eCommerce business