How to Buy Wholesale and Sell Online?
Have you ever considered buying fashion wholesale? Wholesale is the practice of buying and selling goods between businesses rather than direct to consumers. The products are usually sold in batches or packs, and are meant solely for business purposes, eg. reselling.
Why buy wholesale?
Buying wholesale gives you a lot of benefits - it allows you to purchase stock at low cost to sell on to your customers at a profit. You are also able to buy in much larger amounts, making planning your stock levels much easier.Buying in bulk can also save on logistical fees, for example shipping costs tend to be lower when buying in bulk directly from wholesalers. Wholesale suppliers work hard to make sure their products are ahead of the trends, in line with the latest looks for each season so you can be sure that when you purchase wholesale your customers will get the most fashionable designs available.
Buying wholesale “for trade only”
By their very nature, wholesalers will state they are for ‘trade only', but this doesn't mean you have to set up a limited company. If you are planning to buy stock and sell it, technically you are a trader, although it's worth checking with wholesale suppliers what their requirements are from their clients. The crucial thing, when buying wholesale you need to forget about using your new products for your own, personal use - remember that buying wholesale products mean that they are for resale only. Some wholesalers work on a forward order basis. They share their designs with retailers who then place large orders for hundreds (or thousands) of pieces, to be manufactured and delivered once the order is placed (usually taking around 2-3 months). Other fashion suppliers work with live stock, so you are able to see their exact stock availability, purchase and have delivered to your store within a few days. Both have their benefits - forward ordering can mean lower cost, however buying short order stock is much less risky as you can simply buy what you need and restock to follow the latest trends
So we’ve covered the basics of wholesale purchase, but if you're still not sure where to start the easiest way is to shop from an B2B online fashion marketplace like TradeGala. It’s an online B2B fashion marketplace that effectively connects wholesale vendors with retail buyers from around the world. This takes the legwork out of sourcing wholesale fashion brands as you can find everything you need in one place, and there are no regsitration costs.
Many retailers which purchase wholesale fashion then go on to sell it direct to customers online via their own web-store, or other 3rd party marketplaces. These days setting up an online store is simple - there are a wide range of e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, Magento, Big Commerce, Woo Commerce, and more. You don't even need to be an IT expert. And if you prefer not to set up your own website there are hundreds of retail marketplaces where you can list your products. You will be charged commission on any sales you make, but you also have instant access to thousands of potential customers. It's important to note however, that some wholesale brands will not work with retailers that sell on sites such as Amazon or Ebay - if this is what you're planning to do it's worth checking with your suppliers first.
If you're planning on setting up a fashion retail business, your first stop needs to be sourcing your wholesale suppliers. Hopefully our short guide has given you the basics to understand how to buy wholesale, and you'll soon be selling online!
