The Difference Between Wholesalers and Retailers

By Cliff Woods 

If you want to start your own liquidation business, you will have an advantage if you understand the jobs of all parties involved in the sale of a product. This is especially important since you will sometimes be dealing with wholesalers and retailers when you want to purchase their outdated products or merchandise on sale. 

Wholesalers and retailers are two essential middlemen when it comes to selling products.

Both wholesalers and retailers:

1. Work as an intermediary connection between the producers and the shoppers of products.
2. Focus on offering a broad variety of products and services for the buyers.
3. Minimize how much effort is necessary by the producer in distributing their product to consumers.
4. Significantly raise the effectiveness of trade which results in the decrease in total price of distribution of goods.
5. Supply the delivery of products to the customers at locations handy and available to them.
6. Offer after-sale solutions and handle customer complaints.
7. Provide advice about the goods to the buyers and relays the buyer feedback to the manufacturers as well.

Wholesaling is a small part of the total supply chain, which includes numerous providers such as vendors (the term vendors originally represented property vendors. However, today it means a supplier of any good or service), producers, and retailers. Retailers buy products from wholesalers, after which they sell the items at a higher price to cover expenses and generate income; to the end-user. 

What is a Wholesaler? A wholesaler is the middleman that works between the manufacturers and retailers. Wholesaler is the term for any person or company marketing goods in large amounts to customers besides the regular consumers; end-users. Therefore the producers who sell their products straight to retailers can also be considered to be wholesalers. The specific expertise and ability of wholesalers improves the performance of the products being sold. The wholesalers offer essential services and solve the issues of both the producers and the retailers. 

Several of the jobs of a wholesaler may include:

1. Execute marketing and sales campaign activities as well as hire professional sales associates for this exact purpose.
2. Set up orders for the item ahead of time based on the consumer's demand for the item. This makes it possible for the manufacturer to find out the exact quantity to produce so that no materials are wasted in the production process.
3. Keep the producers up-to-date on the alterations in consumers' practices, preferences, and trends.
4. Package various levels of products based on the quality and organize the goods into small groups for the retailers.
5. Work as the retailer's purchasing agent and helps to save them from the hassle of finding and building goods from various producers.

What is a Retailer?
Retailing is the term for all of the dealings which involve sale of products or services to the regular consumer. A retailer is a middleman that buys products from the wholesalers and then sells it to the shoppers; end-users. They are an important link in how products are sold since without them the consumers would have a much harder time locating goods and merchandise would not be able to be sold in far away locations. There is a stronger personal connection with the buyers when they deal with a retailer since they can focus on the different preferences and tastes of their target market. 

 Retailers are the final link in the "chain of distribution" and provide the final price tag of the product to the consumer. The retailers offer essential services and resolve the complications of the producers and wholesalers while at the same time managing the problems of the consumers. 

A few of the jobs of a retailer may include:

• Carry out storage function by maintaining goods.
• Provide outlets to wholesalers and producers.
• Organize products provided by the wholesalers and store them in hassle-free packages for the satisfaction of consumers.
• Keep customers educated about the shifting trends on the market like the various types of models in a specific product line.
• Predict the wants of consumers and appropriately put together products of different kinds.

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Cliff Woods is the owner of Rapid-Liquidations.
We buy complete inventories of unwanted or discontinued consumer merchandise for cash and sell complete inventories of consumer merchandise at about 15 to 20% of retails prices!
If you are interested, we also have a complete, easy-to-follow manual on how to get started in this business yourself.