Wholesale Business: How To Start Wholesale Business?

If you want to start a business but have no experience in manufacturing, management, and want to start with a small budget then a wholesale business is fit for you.

In this article, you are going to learn about different wholesale business ideas (low, medium, and high budget).

We will also discuss another key factor like how to set up? how to run? marketing and advertising etc.

Few points will cover from the customer’s point of view like customer satisfaction, how to retain a customer? How to delight the customer? 

Sr. No.	Name of business	Budget
		Low	Medium	High
1.	Food and beverage	Snacks and water	Rice, grains, pulses, cold drinks, etc.	Superfood, Dry fruits and alcoholic drinks, etc.
2.	Textile	Piece of cloth	Garments	Jeweler and fashion products etc.
3.	Home Appliance	Kitchen Vessel	Decoration	Furniture
4.	Electricity Appliance	Wire, cables, switch, etc.	Fan, TVs’, Mobile, laptop, etc.	Lab equipment, Heavy motor & Machinery, etc.
5.	Pharmaceutical product	medicine, drugs, syrup, syringe, cotton.	mask, gloves, cutting instrument, oxygen cylinder.	infusion pump, tracheal tube, stretcher, copper IUDs, respirator.
6.	Stationery Items	Books, notebook, pen, colour,etc.

Note:-

To start a business is not everyone’s cup of tea. It requires proper market research, planning, budget analysis, patience, dedication, consistency, and much more.

So, if you are thinking of starting a business, think well prepared for the best and ready for the worst because tomorrow anything may happen.

What Is Wholesale Business?

The process of purchasing a product from a manufacturer at a low price and supplying to the retailer at the higher prices is known as wholesale business. The person who is involved in this process is known as a wholesaler.

Skills Required For Wholesale Business

Since mostly this is selling business so communication skill is a most important skill and next is you should be good at management of providing best services.

Benefits And Challenges Of Doing Wholesale Business.

If you start any business you have to face lots of problems regarding when you starting a business and you need to solve it accordingly.

Here the main challenges would be a selection of field, market research, good quality of product, and get a good customer.

So, do market research in a proper way about demand and supply of the product, its margin, etc., and then proceed.

If you find there is a gap between demand and supply and getting a good margin on that product you will be benefitted. 

Types Of Wholesale Business.

For every idea, we will discuss the low, medium, and high budgets.

1. Food And Beverage:

From trolley man to the restaurant, small shop to the mall, this is the most common and always in-demand product all over the country.

Good quality and hygienic food are preferred by most of the customers, considering this one can enter in this business.

• Low budget:

Snacks and mineral water would be a good choice for low-budget businesses, you can supply products like noodles, pasta, momos, biscuits, fruits, mineral water bottles, etc.

• Medium budget:

If your budget is medium, then a product like rice, wheat, pulses, spices, and cold drinks, etc. can be purchased from the manufacturer and supplied to the grocery shop.

• High budget:

Food items for a high budget like

Superfood – Mushrooms, Makhana, Seaweed, Avocado, Natural honey, etc.

Dry fruits – Cashew, Raisins, Dried apricots, dates, etc.

Beverages – Alcoholic drinks 

You can choose a specific niche by supplying a nutritional diet to nutritionists and health-conscious people. One can deal with all these products with good brands and proper marketing could be a good source of income.

2. Textiles Sector:

The textile sector is also a profitable niche if one can do it seriously. We can find a number of garment shops all over the place.

• Low budget:

In the textile sector for a low budget, you can start with buying all sorts of cloth-like 

For men – cloth of shirt, pant, kurta, suit, etc

For women – Cloth of Salwar suit, petticoat, blouse, lehengas, etc.

• Medium budget:

If you are looking garment product on a medium budget then it might be helpful

For men- Shirt, pants, jeans, trousers, suit, t-shirt, etc.

For women – Sarees, Blouse, Salwar Kurta, t-shirt, tops, jeans, etc.

Kidswear, Innerwear could also be alternate options in this sector.

•  High budget:

Fashion product and Jeweler is a very lucrative business but it not only requires a heavy investment, but it also requires an interest, hard work, and expertise.

 Fashion products – Cosmetics, handbags, hats, watches, gloves, belts, eyewear, wallet, glass, shocks, etc.

Jeweler product – Ring, Necklace, Bangles, etc.

 3. Home Appliance:

In a single house, there are a number of products required, some are useful and some are decoration purposes. If you are interested to work in this sector it would not be a wrong choice by the way.

• Low budget:

Kitchen vessel – Thousands of the different products we can see in a single kitchen itself so you can purchase all kitchen stuff from the manufacturer and supply it to the retailer shop.

• Medium budget:

Decoration – Many of us want to purchase a product that is used to decorate our home like photo frames, wall hanging, table decor, spiritual, tableware, home garden, etc.

These products have a good margin and customers get attracted towards them and are ready to pay for them.

• High budget:

Furniture – If you can invest a little more, then you can choose the furniture business. A product like a table, chair, and bed are the basic things required in every house so one can go with this business. You need to consult a few carpenters for the selection of good quality products if you don’t have any experience in this field.

4. Electricity Appliance:

Nowadays if the electricity goes off then almost all work gets stuck. That’s the importance of electricity. While building a house or after completion of house electric appliances are a must for everyday lifestyle.

• Low budget:

Electric wires, cables, switch, switchboard, plug, tape, and much more small electrical stuff could be purchased from the manufacturer at wholesale price and supplied to retailers of the electric shop.

• Medium budget:

If you are interested in other electrical appliances like Fan, TVs, Ac, cooler, mobile, Laptop, etc. then it’s also a good choice because every day their demand in the market is increasing day by day.

• High budget:

Heavy electric motors, lab equipment, solar panels, boilers, etc. contain a huge margin but it requires a large number of investments too.  

5. Pharmaceutical Products:

Again the medical services are like 24*7, the pharmaceutical industry is among the top industries in terms of profit and turnover.

 Since this is a multibranched business there are a lot of scopes to enter in this field like medical devices, surgical products, food, and dietary products, etc.

Since degree, license, and expertise are compulsory to start this business, everybody cannot start this business.

• Low budget:

By simply purchasing medicine, drugs, syrup, syringe, cotton, etc, from manufacturer and supply to retailer shop.

• Medium budget:

By dealing with surgical devices like a mask, gloves, cutting instrument, oxygen cylinder and concentrator, etc.

• High budget:

Dealership of medical devices would be another option for generating a good source of income.

Devices like infusion pump, tracheal tube, stretcher, copper IUDs, respirator, dialysis catheter, etc.

To start this business requires huge investment, licenses, and all.

6. Stationery Items:

This business comes under evergreen business because the demand of the product required for a whole year and everywhere from small villages to metropolitan cities. 

Products like books, Notebooks, pens, pencils, diaries, rubber, sharpener, marker, colored pen, etc. there are enormous varieties in this sector one can enter into this business after doing research.

We discussed the wholesale business idea, its types, and scope with different budgets.

Now we will discuss some important tips which are helpful to start a business.

Recommended: Top Reasons For Startup Failure

How To Start A Wholesale Business In 2021?

Various key points need to be considered before starting this business.

1. Selection Of Product/sector

Before entering into any sector we need to research well about the product’s demand and supply in the market. 

If our analysis would be based on the future (at least for the next 10 years) then it helps in decision making.

2. Selection Of Manufacturer

Margin and quality of the product, service quality of manufacturer, paperwork, terms and condition, target to achieve are the key point we need to discuss before making a deal with a manufacturer with the respective product.

3. Selection Of Location

Once we select a product and deal with the manufacturer successfully then we need to choose the location of the warehouse and office.

Selection of warehouse (space and size) should be according to our budget and product.

4. License And Agreement

To run your business smoothly, make it legalize by getting the government’s permission like Trade License, GST registration, paperwork, etc.

We should start a business once we get clearance from the administrative department.

Also check: Best Small Business Ideas

How To Run A Wholesale Business?

Till now we have learned about the setup of a wholesale business, now we will discuss how to run this business.

1. Build Customer Relationship

Since wholesale business is more about marketing.

So we need to focus on building a good relationship with the customer and if we do this task properly half of the work is done.

Building a good relationship with the customer will help in the long term.

Sometimes we need to filter a few customers if he does not fit our business.

2. Delight And Retain Customer

Running a business is not a single-day job, it’s an ongoing process so once we build a customer doesn’t mean he/she will remain forever.

First, we should not think about profit and revenue. That’s why building a customer and retaining it is important. If we provide good quality products with high margins (by neglecting our profit) then there is a higher chance to delight our customer and we can generate profit in future.

So, to retain our customers we need to nurture them by providing the best possible margin, interacting on phone calls, inviting on function, solving their problems, etc.

3. Focus On Delivery Services

In this busy schedule, no one likes to wait, everyone expects good service so be careful while hiring an employee, choose an active one.

Provide them vehicles, mobile, carry bags to make your service better.

4. Maintain Annual Account

A company’s annual account is the central part of the business because everything depends on this either directly or indirectly financial stability, growth of the company, etc.

It consists of three pillar:

Profit and loss Statement

Balance Sheet

Cash Flow Statement

5. Marketing And Advertising

Marketing and Advertising is the core part of the wholesale business. So we need to put all effort into this field.

Hire good employees and train them well, if possible arrange training programs for them to become experts in this field.

Analyze their performance, provide them an incentive, arrange some meetings to discuss all marketing queries.

We should invest money in advertising to scale our business.

Offline marketing – Banner, hoarding, pamphlet, vocal announcement newspaper ads, etc.

Now we can understand the power of online marketing since everything comes online, we can also penetrate the market online.

Online marketing –Facebook ads, Google ads, Instagram ads, etc.

Note:

In every field, we can choose a micro-niche to target a specific market and target customers.

We can build a brand through creative work and problem-solving.

Also Check: MSME Business Ideas

Final Thoughts

• Research and analysis of market and product, prepared blueprint, select product accordingly, prepared mentally, and go ahead.
• If you think to achieve big then always go for legal, follow all protocols, get all necessary permission by submitting documentation.
• Always remember in every field there is huge competition so you are not only one in the market and by setting business anytime another competitor can enter.
• To start a business requires a lot of hard work, consistency, patience, ability to take risks, skill, etc.
• Everything will not happen according to our plan, many unexpected problems will come so we need to be mentally prepared and try to solve all problems that come in the way.

Frequently Asked Questions