The types of wholesale clothing suppliers

The research phase for online clothing wholesalers is one of the most critical phases in which new entrepreneurs often encounter the first real difficulties. If you are not already an expert in the world of clothing sales and more generally in the world of retail, you need to know who you are going to talk to in order to offer the right clothes in your online store. Wholesalers are one of the main figures operating in the world of goods distribution: their role is that of intermediary.

Wholesalers

The wholesaler has contacts with many producers or distributors from whom he buys goods which will then be resold in large quantities to companies or individuals, who in turn will then sell them in the retail market. Wholesalers generally operate in specific market sectors, such as clothing and accessories or in the food sector. The 84degreeseast is one of them. He is known in this field for the quality of his services.

The producers

The producers , as it is easy to guess, are the companies that physically create a clothing product. This means that the buying channel is direct, so there is no middleman between you and the products you are going to sell and therefore the purchase price will be lower.

While contacting a manufacturer directly may seem like the better choice, we have to tell you that this is not the case for three reasons:

• The first is that not all manufacturers sell to retailers (you with your store) but operate through intermediaries such as distributors or wholesalers. The main activity of a manufacturer is actually creating the product rather than selling it.

• Manufacturers often only allow the direct sales channel for very large purchases.

• Manufacturers do not provide access to as wide a product line as wholesalers can offer you, working with multiple manufacturers and distributors.

Distributors are always intermediaries who have a contract with producers to distribute their products on the territory or on the web, and their job is to find wholesalers.

This number is not always present in a product's supply chain, in fact very often the distributor and the wholesaler are the same thing.

Finally, there are the resellers who are nothing more than realities specializing in the purchase of warehouse stocks at low prices from wholesalers, producers but also stores around the world in order to resell them to the retailer at competitive prices.

Direct manufacturers

If you've spotted a particular product that you want to sell, contact the manufacturer directly. It can be quite difficult to convince a manufacturer, especially if they already have their own distribution channels. However, if you have an e-commerce site that is already generating significant traffic, the manufacturer may be interested in additional sales. If you offer him a win-win partnership, he has good reasons to accept!

To conclude on the search for suppliers for your online store

Finding suppliers for your online store can be very time consuming, whether you are looking for a supplier in China or the West. But, you will save a lot of time by establishing your own criteria in advance. Quickly eliminate suppliers from your list that do not meet your criteria for reliability. It will save you time later.