Wholesale Business Guide and Ideas
Increasing your productivity as a business person requires implementing strategies that other entrepreneurs haven’t thought of. Regardless of the kind of business you operate, there is a chance that someone else wants to achieve a higher success level than you desire. Therefore, you must spend every waking day ensuring that other business people’s strategies do not affect your position in the market.
If you’re running a wholesale business or are hoping to start one soon, you must educate yourself on what it takes to remain at the top of your competition. Below is a guide on how to ensure your entrepreneurship journey remains free of disappointments.
Tips for running a successful wholesale business
- Be careful about what you sell
With a wholesale business, most or all of your customers will be retailers. This means that you’ll have to stock products in large quantities to meet all your customers’ needs. Before holding various products in your store, be sure they are of good quality because if they are not, the final consumers will complain to their retailer, who will, in turn, buy less from your shop. As a distributor, study your suppliers carefully to avoid putting your business at risk of shutting down.
- Invest in proper inventory management
To implement proper inventory management techniques, you need to differentiate the items that move fast and those that are not bought often. This way you’ll never run out of stock and risk losing your customers because of your inability to meet their needs on time. Also, you won’t experience holding excess items in stock. Depending on how big your wholesale business is, hire someone or a team of more than one person to help with inventory management.
- Automate your business processes
With technological advancements, you can substitute paperwork for electronic files. Storing physical files or handling stock turnover manually can be tiring, and you’re at risk of making mistakes when updating your books. You can adopt bar codes on all your stock items to determine what’s in stock and what has been shipped to the customers. Upon scanning the code, automatic updates will happen on your inventory management system. You can also introduce online payment methods to avoid handling physical bills, which are prone to theft.
- Maintain excellent customer service
Money is essential in the business, but you must not forget that you can only enjoy substantial profits if your customers are satisfied with the kind of services you offer. Understand your client’s needs and aim to exceed their expectations. Determine the best way to collect feedback from your customer, as doing this will enlighten you on how to improve their experience. This feedback can also help you understand what the final consumers think about the items you are selling, which will be beneficial for long-term business success.
- Invest in long-term relationships with your customers
Customer loyalty is one thing that will determine your business success, as it means that you’ll always have buyers for the items you have in storage. By satisfying your customers, you stand a better chance at serving them over time.
Perform so well that you don’t give them a reason to seek products from other wholesalers offering the same things as you.
Read Also List of Businesses to Start with 30k in Kenya
Wholesale business ideas to consider
If you’re wondering the kind of wholesale enterprise to start, below are a few ideas you should consider:
- Milk business (dairy)
You can buy milk from independent farmers and distribute it to retailers such as supermarkets. You’ll have to invest a lot of money as there is a need to buy, storage equipment, acquire vehicles for logistics, hire employees to coordinate milk distribution. Also, you must obtain regulatory clearance regarding the go-ahead to deal with food substances.
- Stationery business
This business will involve selling stationery such as pens and books in bulk. To earn a lot of money from this business, you can consider pitching your products to schools or corporates as they are the number one consumers of stationary. Again retailers like supermarkets and general shops can make up your list of customers.
- Farming business
You can choose to buy land and grow various types of foods then distribute them in bulk. For instance, if you grow tomatoes, cabbages, and capsicum, among others, in your greenhouse, you should consider partnering with various retailers who are interested in bulk purchases.
Apart from growing the farm produce yourself, you can be the one who buys from many farmers, just like what happens with the dairy business, as explained earlier. The best thing about diving into the agricultural industry is that there’s a likelihood that most of your food items will be bought as people have to eat at least three meals in a day.
- Utensils business
The kitchen is a room you’ll find in almost every house, hotel, and office. Therefore, the demand for kitchenware is ever rising, so this business is likely to be profitable. Consider visiting some markets that deal with the sale of utensils in bulk to determine what it is that most customers look for. Ensure you source from manufacturers who are known for manufacturing high-quality items. Otherwise, you’ll have too much in stock and very few customers.
Regardless of the kind of business you choose to engage in, be smart about your spending, seek to meet your client’s requirements and, advertise extensively to create awareness of your business. Otherwise, you’ll have a deteriorating business.
