Sourcing wholesale products for your distribution business can seem challenging at first. You need to have a good assortment of quality products at competitive prices. Since store owners are constantly being offered wholesale deals, you need to make sure your wholesale products stand out.

Wholesalers need to find new items for their retail accounts, the same way that retail sellers need to find new items for their retail customers. Having a steady source of new items will attract and keep customers.

Here are my suggested sourcing strategies for finding wholesale products:

Sourcing Strategy #1

Visit local manufacturers. Manufacturers need to produce merchandise in large quantities. They are always looking for distributors who can help them move their production. Find distributors by visiting your local library. The librarian can give you a guide that will list manufacturers by product category and by geographic area.

Sourcing Strategy #2

Get in touch with wholesalers. Introduce your business to wholesalers. Let them know that you will be supplying retail accounts with specific wholesale products. They might even have suggestions of what products to sell, and they can definitely give you advice on how to sell their products. Search for wholesalers online through online wholesale directories.

Sourcing Strategy #3

Speak to importers. Imported products are priced at up to 90% below domestically manufactured products. While quality can be an issue, imported merchandise definitely comes out ahead from a price perspective. Deal with actual importers, and not middlemen when possible. You will obtain a lower wholesale price and will have the opportunity to request product changes.

Sourcing Strategy #4

Become an importer. You can import the merchandise you want to distribute. Overseas manufacturers will be glad to work with you, even if your first orders are relatively small. You can even have your first orders shipped with UPS, making the shipping process relatively simple. Importers can be found through online import directories.

Donny Lowy runs http://www.closeoutexplosion.com an online wholesale and closeout business.