It takes more than money to buy wholesale merchandise!

Have you made your first Internet wholesale purchase? Are you gearing up to buy from a supplier? There are a few things you must consider before making that first purchase including what will be required of you to set up a wholesale account. I will assume for the purpose of this post that you have already picked out a supplier to buy from after long and careful research.
Check the following out before placing your Internet or phone order:
Monetary requirements for initial purchase: The Company you will be buying from might require a substantial first purchase and/or have a minimum order amount, which must be reached. The reason for this is generally that wholesalers do not want to sell to consumers who are merely buying products for themselves. Most wholesale companies want to establish long-term relationships with retailers that will grow over time.
Business License: There are a few wholesale companies, which will require you to provide your business license before making a purchase. A business license can be obtained through your local city offices and the fee associated with the license will depend on the type of your business and gross yearly receipts. A business license will cost $35 - $100 on average if you are just starting out.
Resellers License: A sales tax reseller license is an often-confused subject and a lot depends on the state or county where you do business. States have different names for the same permits or licenses: Resale Permit/License, Sellers Permit, Certificate of Authority, Use and Sales Tax License/Permit Sales and Use Tax, Application to Collect/Report Tax, Transaction Privilege (Sales) Tax, Resale Certificate-all adding up to much the same thing. Generally, companies who sell wholesale want to be sure their customers are not buying for their own consumption, thus cutting out the wholesaler's true customers. So when they ask for a wholesale or resale license, it allows them to be sure they are dealing with a business that will truly resell their goods. A great resource to use to find out the exact license requirements for your City/State would be your local City offices and your Chamber of Commerce. http://www.uschamber.com/chambers/directory/default">Find your local Chamber of Commerce.

Are terms available: Applying for credit might be advantageous if you are just starting out, as terms will offer time for repayment. The typical credit terms offered are Net 30. Net 30 is a form of trade credit wich specifies payment is expected to be received in full 30 days after the goods are delivered. Net 30 terms are often coupled with a credit for early payment; e.g. the notation "2% 10, net 30" indicates that a 2% discount is provided if payment is received within 10 days of the delivery of goods, and that full payment is expected within 30 days. Most companies will have a credit application, which will need to be filled out and faxed into the company for review. Expect to offer industry specific references, general information about your business and banking information in order to be approved.
Payment methods accepted: Investigate the various types of payment methods accepted by this potential company. Do they accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover? Can you mail a company check or money order? If paying by credit card many companies will require you to fax a copy of your current Drivers license and front/back copy of the credit card you intend to use. Some wholesale companies will require you to make payment by wire transfer. A wire transfer is a method of transferring money from one entity to another. A wire transfer can be made from one entity's bank account to the other entity's bank account. Wire transfers are expensive, if required by your wholesale company check with your local bank about the associated fee before commiting to purchase.

Other areas which I recommend reviewing before purchasing include:

Return Policies: Do the written terms spell out the return policy for defective products? Who pays for the freight? Can you get a refund or does it have to be a credit? If you have any questions about returns please ask before you purchase.

Volume Discounts: Are there volume discounts available? Sometimes you can negotiate discounts, if none currently are available.

Order Processing Time: Since the time from when your order is placed until you receive your inventory will affect how much inventory you need to keep on hand, it is important to ask lead time you need to allow between orders.

Do you want skyrocketing profit margins?

Lets set up a a scenario here today, lets assume you have been selling on Ebay for a period of time and sales have been steady. Maybe you have become familiar with auction listings, your competition and have a sense of what does and doesn't sell through trial and error. I would imagine, as most Ebay sellers reflect, you now want to increase your profit margins. But how? Ebay is filled with sellers who are selling hundreds of the same products with auctions closing every hour with diminishing profits. Are you content with buying a $12 item and having it sell on Ebay for $14 before auction expenses?
Among the many ways to combat the above example, today I want to emphasis there is a way to purchase Closeout merchandise far below wholesale pricing, in fact sometimes 50-90% below original wholesale pricing!
What is Closeout Merchandise? There are hundreds of thousands of large chain retailers, manufacturers and importers who are left with billions of dollars in merchandise each year that are forced to sell their excess for a number of reasons: Items must be removed from shelves to make room for newer models; a change in financial circumstances or strategy may result in canceled orders; manufacturers may be downsizing or moving facilities; companies may need to reduce inventories for accounting reasons. As a result, the companies are forced to sell this first-quality inventory quickly and below their normal cost.
Buying this type of Closeout merchandise to resell will increase your profit margins no matter what your selling venue is. Sellers who sell with a retail store front, through flea markets or even Ebay are constantly looking for Closeout merchandise to reap larger profits.
Google the phrase: wholesale closeout merchandise, and your search results will be flooded with companies who distribute closeout merchandise, in fact there is even a category called Closeouts within the WholesaleEZ Directory.
If you are a retailer I would strongly urge you to take some time to start researching how purchasing closeout merchandise can improve your business strategy. In my next post I will explore the various types of closeout merchandise including Overstock, Shelf Pulls and Salvage.

Finding a Wholesale Supplier who offers more than just Low Pricing

There are many factors that translate to a successful retail business. If you are just starting out or have been in business for a couple of years you know that among the most important aspects of retailing involves finding and securing merchandise suppliers. A strong supplier or “wholesaler” can make or break your bottom line. If you do not have products to sell how long can you stay in business? If you are not selling merchandise at a reasonable retail price how will you build ongoing clientèle?
I believe retail entrepreneurs primarily focus on pricing when looking for a new wholesale company to buy from. This should be the first conditional decision to make when researching a new supplier, but your investigation should not stop at pricing.
Pricing- Two factors here; small quantity and large volume pricing. Does this particular wholesaler have actual wholesale pricing which will allow my business to purchase at a reasonable price and after shipping will I be able to make a profit? Are the minimum quantities required feasible to my business? and does this wholesaler offer quantity breaks for larger volume purchasing (one item in large quantities)?
Selection- There is nothing wrong with a supplier specializing in two or three different products, however a large selection of merchandise will offer your clientèle the best variety
Terms- Does the company offer credit terms and what are they?
Freight- What are the shipping and/or freight terms of the potential new wholesaler? Do they offer free shipping if you spend a certain amount? Are shipping charges “tiered” meaning purchases of $100-$499 10% freight; $500 -$999 15% freight?
Refund/Exchange Policy – Are you able to return merchandise and if so, under what circumstances?
Customer Service – How well are you treated when you call to inquire of send and email?
Experience/Longevity- How long has this wholesaler been in business? A fair number of years will tell you they are establishing long term business relationships with their accounts.
A good Wholesaler will offer the best of all points above. I would venture to say that as a business owner you would go the extra mile for your customers. Remember, you are a customer when you pick up the phone or place an Internet order from your wholesale supplier. If the wholesale company you are buying from does not offer excellent pricing, terms and customer service..it might be time to look for another company to buy from.

SEO Companies

There is lots to decide when you’re a wholesaler and you make the jump to Internet marketing. For the proper exposure to SEO marketing, to get the very best in what it can do for you, it’s a good idea to become acquainted with a reputable SEO marketing company. If you need your car fixed you try and find the best mechanic that will get it running at its top performance in no time, and it’s the same with your web site and a good SEO marketing company. But you’ll need to know what to look for in one of these firms.
One of the first things to look at is their website and not for the things you might expect. One of the most important things a wholesaler with a lot to invest needs to be sure of is the honesty of the Internet company they’re dealing with. To that end, anyone searching for an reputable SEO firm should look first for some contact information. Don’t just settle for an email address either. Most reputable companies will supply a landline or cell number and even an address. This just means that the people you’re dealing with don’t have anything to hide as they’ve got a real address where they can be contacted offline.
Next you’ll need to gather a list of the services they offer. Many of these companies can build a website for you that they claim will be search engine friendly, but you’ll need to make sure that beyond the graphics and code, the content on the site is written by someone qualified—namely a professional writer with SEO experience. Pay Per Click marketing is another feature that the best SEO online companies offer. Pay Per Click is an advertising method whereby you get your ad placed in front of the competition. It’s another feature of the online world that helps clients get their page rankings up.
You’ll need to talk to the company you decide on about other things too like landing pages. Landing pages are commonly the first pages on the site and considering most Internet users click away after nine second if their interest isn’t peaked, the content on those pages will need to be carefully thought out.

The Top Chinese Wholesalers

China’s influence on the world markets is undeniable and their position as a major international economic force continues to grow with every passing year. Not long ago, the country was shrouded behind a wall of secrecy when it followed communist rule, but with the advent of capitalist leanings, China has been able flex some rather impressive market muscle. Everywhere you look in North America, there is a consumer good of one kind or another that is made in China, and of course that means there are some Chinese companies that are making tremendous headway in the area of wholesaling as well.
Sinoglass co, Ltd is one of the major players to emerge from the boom in the Chinese economy and wholesaling sector. The company has a series of food and condiment storage containers and glass house ware gift items. They have offices in QuingDao and the United States. While many Chinese companies struggle to break into and find their place in the American market, other’s are already well known and respected in North America.
A good example of these types of companies is Goodbaby Child Products. Among this company’s most noteworthy accomplishments includes having the number one stroller sales in the United State for several years running. Many of these Chinese wholesalers are able to keep their costs and overhead down to a level that they attract the interest of both foreign markets for the prices of the goods they can produce as well as foreign companies who can cut their own costs by working with the Chinese.
Another emerging wholesale market for the Chinese appears to be in electronics. Asian wholesalers boast a wide variety of products including car audio and visual appliances as well as the latest and best in other electronic equipment for the home. Digital cameras and camcorders are abundant as well as any of the latest digital advancements such as Bluetooth.

The Biggest Wholesalers

Wholesaling is one of the biggest industries in North America. When you think about almost any kind of consumer good, there is usually a corresponding wholesaler. Still, even for any industry this large there are some clear giants. Some wholesalers that are miles ahead of the other colleagues in the business. It should really be no surprise that one of the biggest of these group deals with food and drugs.
Wholesalers of food, drugs, beverages, and tobacco compromise the largest group of wholesalers with just over 20% of the sector. With the globalization of the world markets, there are certain issues that are cropping up as more and more giant wholesaling companies are able to reach into markets where they had no exposure before.
This is taking place in certain areas of Japan. Although this issue is not generally reported in the media in that country, there is a large reorganization of the wholesale food industry in Japan due to the influx of, among others, Western influence. This has forced some of the larger wholesalers in Japan to resort to some drastic measures. Only eight years ago Japan’s largest and ninth largest wholesaler decided it would be in their best interest to merge to fend off the onslaught from foreign interests. Still, that move doesn’t seem to have solved the problem.
As the trend continues and the number of Japanese wholesalers shrinks, the variety of goods and services available for Japanese retailers to put on their shelves diminishes. So, in an ironic twist, these same Japanese retailers look more and more to foreign wholesalers to satisfy their customers needs for diversity. Added to the mix is the increased amount of knowledge the Japanese consumer has about what kinds of goods they want and where they come from. As well, the Japanese are traveling abroad now more than ever and often ask for foreign goods at their favorite stores by name.

The New Wholesalers

It wasn’t that long ago that the business world was changed forever. With the advent of the Internet, the way goods and services moved through countries and across borders changed significantly. Within the span of only a few years, all the furthest reaches of the globe became instantly reachable for wholesalers to do business on a worldwide scale.
Of course with the good came the bad and a bottle neck of companies wanting to advertise on the Web created a problem for the individual wholesaler that wanted to get his or her voice heard. Soon, it became apparent that there was a need for some kind of cyberspace funnel to package all these wholesalers so prospective customers could shop on line for the goods and services they needed.
Where there’s a need for an invention of some kind there is usually someone with the know how to fill the need and that’s what happened with the Internet and wholesalers. From the mishmash of company names and titles spread across the Internet, someone got the idea to combine them all into on line directories.
These on line directories funneled all the wholesalers into several places where they could be easily identified and ranked according to the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) content. A website’s SEO is determined by the strategic placement of the site’s keywords.
These keywords determine the ranking of the page which in turn places certain websites above others when a client searches on line.
Usually, the directories are called up when a client types words like ‘wholesaler’ into a search engine like Google. The names for several directories are then called up on the screen and the prospect can then select the one that interests them and click on to find the name of the specific wholesaler or service they were looking for.

Supply Chain Management and The Wholesaler

The business of being a wholesaler is more complex than most people might imagine. The industry is about more than just selling things to customers. Like many other things that appear simple at first glance, there’s a lot to learn about the business of being a wholesaler and one of the more important concepts is called Supply Chain Management (SCM).
The concept of SCM is relatively new to the industry having only just come into play in the 1980s. In a nutshell, the idea behind SCM is the inclusion of every party that interacts in a transaction in the process.
The thinking behind SCM goes like this. If every partner in the transaction process (from the original supplier all they way through to the customer) has the information about the entire supply chain at their fingertips, each level of input along the way will be about the entire chain and how to better it rather than just one individual aspect. Of course the real goal of SCM is to maximize customer satisfaction by utilizing the resources in the most efficient way possible.
The SCM philosophy has several offshoot ideas that have become very familiar to those working in and around wholesaling. One of the more common of these is the Just In Time (JIT) way of thinking about logistics or the way goods get moved around. JIT logistics is all about only having what you need in any one location at one time. In other words, there is a large amount of and shipments and orders that are placed on a more immediate basis which is in direct contrast to the days where wholesalers kept a bed of product stored in the warehouse.
SCM is a concept that many wholesalers will be familiar with and quite possibly will be the only system some of the younger people in the industry have worked with.

Search Engine Optimization and the Bots

It’s an ominous sounding term that might even scare the uninformed wholesaler off completely. Search Engine Optimization or SEO as it’s more commonly referred to, is the process where everyone with anything they want someone to see on the Internet jockeys for position. For business, and in particular wholesalers, it’s a lot like a group of people bumping up against each other to get the to the front of the line.
But the concepts behind SEO as they pertain to the written word that appears online in advertisements and websites is not as formidable or imposing as some people may think.
The whole idea is about a pretty easy concept called page ranking and that’s simply the method the big search engines like Google use to determine how close to the top of a page someone’s website appears. Of course, the better the SEO ranking the higher up on the page and the more people will see the good or service the web site is trying to sell, so the whole idea is about how to get the site high up on the list.
Here’s it’s important to know that the ‘bots’ as they’re called scan a page from left to right—top to bottom looking for certain words and phrases that people might be searching for. These bots work for search engines like Google and they’re a lot like little elves that work behind the scenes to categorize the things we see on the Internet.
So it becomes important for the savvy wholesaler to know exactly what kinds of words or phrases people type into these engines to find what they want. If their business sells wholesale rugs, it’s a good idea for the first paragraph of the content on the site to use a word or phrase that the owners of the business think will direct people to the site and tell these bots where to place it and how high on the page based, partially, on the number of times the word or phrase is used.

Link Bidding For Wholesalers

The competition in the wholesaling business is fierce and it got even more competitive with the advent of the globalization of many goods and services and the rise of the Internet. It has become apparent in the last decade especially, that the most successful businesses will need to spend money not only on advertising, but specifically on advertising on the Internet. The successful business of the new millennium will need to make their presence known all over the globe. This is true for all goods and services and wholesalers are certainly no exception.
Beyond the Web directories that help to funnel prospective client’s searches to the right place, a new technique has recently been developed to help wholesalers looking to make a name on the Web and it’s called link bidding.
Link bidding is a process whereby clients pay a nominal fee of usually no more than a dollar to have their website hosted on a site that directs traffic to a particular good or service. The placement on the site is determined by the amount of people who decide to pay to have their sites hosted. So for, example, the first page of a directory might cost a dollar until that page fills up at which time the cost for a front page placement might increase to two dollars and so on.
What makes link bidding attractive is the fact that the wholesaler gets the chance to have their site placed into a directory that the search engines recognize. As well, for just a nominal fee, they can get their particular page into a favored position in the directory. In some ways, the modern process of placing your ad on a link bidding directory is a lot like taking out a Yellow Page ad in the era of print advertisement.

Keywords and Wholesaling

The ideas behind Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be more easily understood when they’re explained in familiar terms. SEO and all the tools that go with it makes a ladder from which your website can climb up to a higher ranking on the Internet. Of course the idea behind placing your goods or service onto a website is to advertise and draw customers as a wholesaler. So it follows that because you’re not the only person who wholesales the same product in the new global economy, it’s in your best interest to find a way to put your company one leg up on the competition.
One of the ways to do that is select the right keywords that will give your web pages a high ranking and a better place on Internet. Key words and phrases help to increase the ranking your website gets. Choosing the right keyword is simply matter of selecting word or phrase that you think the person who is looking for your service might type into a search engine.
So, for example, if you’re a wholesaler selling fuzzy widgets and advertising on the Internet, the logical choice for the keyword you might select would be widgets although there’s nothing wrong with using a keyword phrase like fuzzy widgets. But selecting the right keyword is only the first step.
Now, you’ll need someone to write the content for the site in such a way that the keyword will be placed for maximum exposure. Generally, the experts suggest that keywords are best in the first paragraph of the type as close as possible to the left hand side of the page. In that way, the keywords will be noticed by the big search engines like Google and ranked according to the number of times they are used.
Key words are an essential part of the SEO experience. In many ways, they are the gasoline that drives the Search Engine Optimization engine and they should be carefully selected with an eye to page ranking.
A final word. It’s usually best to pay a little extra and get a professional writer to write your web copy and place those keywords for you. While having the keywords placed haphazardly into the text or stuffed in a strategic locations might increase the page ranking, poorly written copy where the keywords have obviously been placed without regard for style and flow only makes for bad copy that can turn clients away.

The History of Indianapolis Wholesaling

Wholesaling is defined as the work of the people who intermediate and bring products from the manufacturers to the retailers. They’re the last people who see them before they gets to the retailer. Wholesalers have played a major role in the American economy from the beginning of commerce in the United States, and the contribution of the wholesalers in Indianapolis is no exception.
Like many other wholesale districts across the United States, the Indianapolis Wholesale District grew up around the town and the railway that was first built there in the mid 1800’s. After the Civil War, there was a business boom in the area that saw the train traffic expand to 85 trains a day. Like many other places, the wholesale district in Indianapolis had a visionary who fostered the first expansion and in this case that man’s name was Henry Schnull. His efforts included building the first wholesale warehouse in the area to house their first grocery business. The family bought properties and built other wholesale enterprises, and for his efforts, Schnull is referred to as the "Father of the Wholesale District," in the area.
The buildings were exceptionally well constructed and many of them survive to this day as historical monuments to that bygone era and the determination of the entire Schnull family. At the time, the area attracted many German settlers who’s names still grace the buildings and streets in the area and the citizens in Indianapolis have now taken to preserving the history of the place they live in.
Several blocks in the cities Wholesale District were slated for demolition to accommodate a new development at one point and the Circle Center Developers took up with the citizens and preserved certain facades, landmarks, and even whole buildings so that the Wholesale District in Indianapolis would survive as a historic landmark.

Chicago: Wholesaling Center

There are many ports and cities across America and throughout the world that are considered to by major centers for commerce of all kinds. Some places are known for their exports and imports, and some are famous for a specialized commodity or service. While many of these places are well known all around the world, not everyone knows that Chicago is considered a world-class wholesaling location and to that end, the history of wholesaling in Chicago deserves a closer look.
Although there has been a decline of late, Chicago wholesalers are industry leaders in the movement of a great many products like lumber, hardware, metals, grain and dry goods. The trade grew rapidly in the 1850s with the construction of a major railway and canal that helped to facilitate the movement of goods through the area. Since wholesaling is loosely defined as the movement of goods from the producers of goods to the retailers who sell them to the customer, the completion of the Illinois and Michigan Canal was especially important.
Over the next few years, wholesaling in Chicago grew in leaps and bounds to the point where by the turn of the century there were 3400 wholesalers in the city and the annual worth of their trade was a staggering $1 billion dollars.
The growth continued on an individual level for the firms that saw the potential and moved at least part of their operations to wholesaling.
The early part of the nineteenth century marked this transformation for notable firms in the Chicago area like Marshall, Field & Company where by 1906, two-thirds of their annual sales volume came from wholesaling. It wasn’t until the Great Depression that things turned the other way and by the start of WWII, many Chicago wholesalers had gone out of business.
Still, wholesaling stayed as an important part of the economic makeup of Chicago to the point where, by the 1990s, Chicago’s $190 billion in annual wholesale trade accounted for roughly 6% of the national total. Today, some of the more notable firms that still wholesale in the Chicago area include W.W. Grainger, Boise Cascade Office Products, and Topco.