The Wholesale Advice I Give Every New Maker

When I think about getting started with wholesale, I feel like 50% of my guidance is “bad news” and 50% of it is “good news.” Because ultimately, wholesale isn’t complicated (a lot of the good news is that most of it is more straightforward than you think.) But it is a long-term process in which you need to experiment and be consistent and build relationships. A satisfying, rewarding, ultimately financially powerful endeavor – but not exactly a “get rich quick scheme.”

So I’m going to share the 7 most important things I would tell someone starting on their wholesale journey today. 

7 things I would tell anyone starting their wholesale journey:

1. Don’t try to outsmart the wholesale pricing structure.
   I have seen many people try to make their wholesale price more than 50% of their retail price. But I have not yet seen anyone succeed with that approach. It’s very expensive to run a brick-and-mortar store and store owners know that they need the wholesale price to be 50% or less of retail to work for them. I’ve seen people try to wiggle around this with volume discounts, tiered pricing, and charging different prices in different places. But the facts remain that a) you really have to keep your retail and wholesale prices consistent across all channels and b) your wholesale price has to be 50% or less than your retail price. Can’t make that work? More here to help.

2. Sometimes you can go straight to wholesale, but it helps a lot to sell retail first.
   When you sell your product at markets or on Etsy, you do a lot of experimenting around your line, your focus, your storytelling, your pricing, and your packaging. All of that experimentation helps you succeed in a wholesale setting. That’s not to say it’s never possible to skip straight to wholesale, just that you have to “get it right from the start” with all of those pieces.

3. Store owners are just people, with a store.
   At Wholesale In a Box, we really advocate for a human, commonsense approach to wholesale. Which makes sense because store owners are, actually, human people. Especially at the beginning of your wholesale journey (which I define as having less than 100 stockists), thinking about wholesale as connecting in authentic ways with one store owner at a time is really the way to go. 

4. Your product has to sell on a shelf so make sure it will.
   Literally put your product on a shelf and figure out how it needs improving in order to sell in that way. If it will get rumpled with touching, if it isn’t legible at a slight distance, if it doesn’t stand nicely on a shelf, if it doesn’t tell its own story… these are all issues that will give store owners a reason not to buy. So solve that problem before you pitch them.

5. Getting started isn’t hard, but keeping going can be.
   People worry about creating a line sheet, setting wholesale terms, and writing outreach emails. But the truth is that you can get all of that set in a single weekend. Those are actually the easy parts when it comes to wholesale. The harder part is staying consistent over the many months it will take wholesale to build. Consistency, experimentation, and iteration are the things that differentiate successful wholesale brands from those that struggle. 

6. Your photos are really important.
   I know photos can be hard for a lot of people, either because your line is extensive, because you don’t have a great aesthetic sense, or because you find the tech part overwhelming. But the truth is that photos are really a make-or-break thing for wholesale. They don’t have to be perfect, but they do have to be clear, consistent, well-lit, and aligned with your aesthetic/style. In addition to the individual product photos, you should also have some lifestyle shots that show your pieces in context. Here’s a quick guide to help you get started if this is a hurdle right now.

7. Start by pitching local stores with a simple line sheet.
   If you’re really starting from zero, I recommend creating a line sheet and then making a list of 5-10 shops within an hour drive from you that you think really align with your style and line. Then, reach out to them, introduce yourself, attach the line sheet, and ask if they’d be game to have you schedule a time to stop by for 5 minutes so they can see the line in person. Connecting in this way gives you a small leg up (stores like to sell local products) and most importantly gives you a very closeup, vivid sense of what is resonating or not with store owners. If you do make any sales, the proximity of the shops will also let you really pamper those first accounts to make sure they’re wildly successful. From there, you can pitch nationwide, get started on Faire, and do other things that are less time-consuming on a store-by-store basis. But if you’re serious about wholesale, this personal, proximate approach at the start is very powerful. 

Wholesale isn't a puzzle you solve once, it's a relationship you build one store owner at a time. Get your pricing right, get your photos right, and start close to home. It will build from there and it will absolutely be worth it. It just won’t happen overnight.

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