There are many types of wholesale businesses. You need to find the right one that fits your style, your character, interests and personality. This article will help you find the different types of wholesale businesses so you can pick the right one for you. Not all wholesale businesses are created equal. There are many types of wholesale businesses, probably too many to mention. Every item that is sold or produced could be sold at wholesale prices. For our article we'll go over businesses that have a relatively easy barrier of entry. In other words, you don't need $100 million dollars to start them. First of all, let's list some of the businesses with easy entry. A wholesale business with an easy level of entry is a business that you can start with a reasonable amount of money depending on how large you want to launch the business. For example, if you are a one person operation you could start it for less than $1,000. If you want a large business you can get the same type of business and add more inventory, employees, vehicles, warehouses, etc. OK, so what types of businesses can you start or purchase? Well, there are many types of businesses that involve the wholesale trade, here are some examples: --Manufacturing-- After you manufacture goods you have to sell them to wholesalers, retailers or directly to the public. This involves wholesale or distribution, or both. --Importing-- Everything about importing spells wholesale. You have to negotiate with oversees manufacturers, transport the products to the USA, get brokers to import products, warehouse goods, and sell and ship products to your wholesale or retail customers. --Wholesalers-- Wholesalers are usually importers or people who buy from importers or manufacturers to sell to other wholesalers or distributors, then normally don't sell to retail stores. Wholesalers specialize in getting good products and supplying them to wholesale distributors, cash and carry's and even exporters. --Cash and Carry-- Cash and Carry businesses are stores that buy at wholesale prices and sell mostly to very small wholesale distributors or wagon jobbers and to small retail stores like liquor stores or gas stations. They have a warehouse or store front where customers drive up and buy their products. They usually don't deliver any products. --Online Sales-- Online sales are a large part of the modern wholesale trade. Many wholesalers sell online nowadays. You can add online sales to your business by simply selling your current products from your websites or other websites or you could even start a business around online sales. If you start a business selling online you simply need a good supplier, a decent shopping cart and you also need to accept credit cards. The rest is getting the right people to your site, or marketing. --Brokers" ? Brokers differ from the other types of distributors in that they normally don't buy products, they just sell them. They never take possession of the merchandise; they don't have warehouses, trucks and many times don't even have offices. They just sell and get commission from the sales. Being a broker is perfect for someone without a lot of money to buy products or someone with great contacts in a particular industry. For example, if you work or used to work at a large retail store you can use your contacts to sell products from other companies. You then get anywhere from 1% to 10% of the sales depending on the type of merchandise. --Wholesale Distributors-- Wholesale Distributors can be manufacturers or importers too. Wholesale Distributors tend to sell to several customers including wholesalers and retailers. They are the most popular type of wholesaler and usually sell everything including food, beverage, consumer goods, cars, chemicals, and most products out there. They can have warehouses and trucks or drop ship products. They can sell to restaurants, manufacturing plants, retail stores, governments or to other wholesalers. Copyright 2006 Jorge Olson |
