The successful operation of any online store is impossible without prior planning for the procurement of goods. Businessmen should pay special attention to this moment. Otherwise, there is a high risk of termination of the trading facility. And this is the lost time, money and accumulated debt obligations.
Businessmen, especially beginners, should remember that concluding contracts with reliable suppliers is an important stage in the development of their own business. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs make the same mistake. Burning with the desire to open their own online store as soon as possible, they incorrectly choose companies selling goods. Inexperienced businessmen often conclude agreements with unfamiliar partners, without even delving into the agreed terms of cooperation. The outcome of such actions is sad. The delivery process is poorly organized, and this leads to disruptions in work, loss of income, the occurrence of debts to customers and, ultimately, to the closure of the retail facility.
Internet directories
What excites first-time entrepreneurs who set themselves the task of opening a store selling goods through the World Wide Web? More often than not, they try to find the answer to the question, how to find reliable suppliers? And here the first disappointment awaits entrepreneurs. The fact is that a search in Runet will not give the desired results. He will not allow you to get an answer to the question of how to find a supplier of goods for an online store. Why? The fact is that reliable companies have no time to advertise. They are engaged in the purchase or production of goods. In addition, serious firms do not need special advertising at all. And beginning owners of online stores need just such suppliers, because they have already proven themselves in practice. You can find such companies. The main thing is to know where.
How to find suppliers for an online store? To find reliable partners, refer to the appropriate directory. Its location is various search engines, in particular Google. To obtain the necessary data, you need to search the list of suppliers. The result will immediately appear on the monitor screen. However, it should be borne in mind that among the listed companies there will be those that do not suit you at all.
Making contacts
How to find suppliers for an online store, having a list of existing companies? To do this, arm yourself with a pen and paper or simply open the Word window. Next, from a list of companies specializing in the supply of the goods you need, you should choose the most suitable. After that, they need to be contacted in one of several ways. It could be:
- phone call;
- writing a letter to the company’s e-mail.
The first method is preferable, as it will allow you to establish direct contact with one of the managers of the company. Many start-up entrepreneurs try to contact potential partners by e-mail. However, they should remember that this option is not able to determine clear schemes for further cooperation. Indeed, most often ordinary correspondents of the office read electronic correspondence.
Access to company sites
Today, almost all companies have their own page on the Internet. On it you can familiarize yourself with the assortment list of the goods offered. However, do not abandon the supplier, which has an unremarkable and simple site. Serious companies often do not want to spend time on its design, which is not an indicator of responsibility. The fact is that the services of reputable suppliers are in demand and do not need advertising. Even without the special design of their website, such companies have a decent income from wholesale sales of goods, paying particular attention to their quality.
Exploring offline directories
How to find suppliers for an online store? One of the offline directories may become a place to search for potential business partners. These are traditional publications on the pages of which this or that sphere of social activity is highlighted.
What actions should be taken? First of all, you need to choose the necessary topic that corresponds to the assortment of goods that you plan to sell in the online store. For example, it may be the rubric “Children's Health”. And here the entrepreneur will be able to answer the question of how to find wholesale suppliers. Indeed, often those companies that are presented in such catalogs are oriented on shipping only large quantities of goods. They simply will not conclude contracts for small amounts.
Competitive Suppliers
How to ensure your online store uninterrupted supply of goods? To do this, you can conclude contracts with those suppliers who provide services to your competitors. Yes, this option is not bad and very promising. However, its execution is fraught with some difficulties. First of all, it is unlikely that such suppliers will initially deliver the goods at the same cost at which it comes to your competitors. Indeed, unlike you, there are already established connections and certain discounts work. The desired price for the goods can be set only after a certain period of time.
Another difficulty of this approach in the selection of suppliers is that it is very, very difficult to achieve superiority over their competitors. To do this, it is necessary to develop various marketing moves that attract customers to your online store. These can be promotions and discounts, loyalty programs, a high level of service, etc.
Appeal to domestic manufacturers
How to find suppliers for an online store? Making contact with the manufacturer is a good option. Directly purchasing goods from such a supplier is the most profitable and reliable business, bringing maximum profit. The fact is that the price for products at the plant will be the lowest on the market, that is, the purchase price, without any trade margins.
However, in this case, there are some disadvantages. The most important of them is the lack of high demand for domestic goods. Only a small part of them is suitable for online sales. Under such conditions, the assortment of the store will need to be supplemented with imported goods, having concluded contracts with foreign manufacturers.
There are also certain difficulties in this. The fact is that when crossing goods across the border, questions arise related to customs clearance and inspection. In addition, some foreign products in our country are subject to high tax rates. If you are ready to start such cooperation, do not try to find easy ways. It is worth abandoning fake documents and illegal import routes, as well as deliberately understating the cost of goods for customs authorities. All these frauds can have serious consequences. In addition, foreign firms are unlikely to agree to cooperate with such buyers.
Federal Exhibitions and Fairs
How to find a supplier of products for a novice businessman? The most optimal and promising search option is to visit federal exhibitions and fairs. At these events, the opportunity is provided:
- familiarization with large companies that produce the range of products you need and are ready to make contact;
- evaluation of the proposed product and on-site discussion of all conditions of cooperation.
A novice businessman should remember that any exhibition or fair is a place where new acquaintances are made, ideas and business proposals are realized. In addition, such events often feature new items that are the best suited for sales in the created online store.
Foreign suppliers
Finding partners outside your state is the most difficult and costly option. How to find a supplier from China, Europe or America? To do this, just publishing your ad on one of the foreign resources is not enough. It is unlikely that your desire to order products will resonate with the leadership of large companies. Various scammers selling Chinese low-quality goods can give feedback on the cooperation announcement. That is why when receiving an answer from abroad it is worth being careful and not fall for deception.
How to find a supplier of clothes, shoes, household appliances and other goods you are interested in? The basic rule regarding the search for a foreign partner is a personal acquaintance with him, with its production and the quality of the manufactured goods. This will require significant financial resources for the translator, for the road, for the preparation of the necessary documents, etc. Small expenses cannot afford such a small entrepreneur. This moment becomes especially relevant for those who decide the following question: how to find a supplier from China? To overcome the language barrier, you will need the services of a professional translator, which are paid at a high rate. But this is not all the difficulties that the owner of an online store will have to face. There is a certain specificity of international trade relations, concluded in the need to purchase a large volume of goods. So foreign manufacturers seek to protect their business from unreliable entrepreneurs.
Difficulties in the supply of goods from abroad are also associated with the imperfection of our logistics and customs system. The inability to draw up an effective border crossing scheme leads our businessmen to significant losses.
However, despite the pitfalls, working with foreign manufacturers is a good and promising option. Such cooperation excludes contacts with intermediary firms, which allows you to pay for goods at purchase prices.
What is dropshipping?
Today, goods in the consumer market can be delivered according to a completely new model. It is called dropshipping. This is a scheme that allows a businessman to purchase individual items from a wholesaler, delivering them to his customer.
What are the benefits of dropshipping? With this scheme, the entrepreneur does not need to purchase large quantities of goods. It is enough just to organize cooperation with one or another supplier that agrees to direct deliveries. At the same time, it is enough for your online store to act as a kind of showcase. Upon receipt of the order from the buyer, he is immediately redirected to the supplier. The latter at the same time sends the goods directly to the address of the final consumer, issuing the businessman only an invoice for the shipped products.
Partner search
How to find a dropshipping supplier? Before contacting a potential partner, you will need to assure the legality of the business you started. Before concluding contracts, suppliers are asked to provide information on the registration of the individual entrepreneur or company, as well as a copy of the taxpayer certificate. Only having a package of relevant documents in hand, you can begin to establish contacts with those distributors who offer dropshipping. And here you will need to be especially vigilant. The market is full of scammers and false information.
How to find a supplier for an online store (dropshipping)? In these searches, the most effective assistant for the businessman will be a search engine on the Internet. However, here there are pitfalls. For example, how to find clothing suppliers for an online store? To do this, you need to carry out a thorough search. It is unlikely that the list of wholesale suppliers will be on the first pages of a search engine. These companies are not striving for their promotion and are not good at SEO. You can find them only when turning several tens of pages.
Also, those who decide how to find a dropshipping provider should not pay attention to the web development of the cover page of such a company. A poorly thought out and ugly designed web page on the Internet does not mean that this partner will be unscrupulous.
How to find suppliers of clothing for the online store? To do this, do not limit yourself to just one question. It’s worth looking for various derivative phrases. It can be “A large batch of clothes”, “Distributors”, etc. These phrases will help to achieve the desired result.
Online clothing store
Very often, businessmen start their business precisely with the sale of wardrobe items. How to find suppliers of clothes in this case? To do this, you need to follow the standard steps:
- View the lists of suppliers in thematic online catalogs;
- contact local manufacturers;
- Browse through regular directories and catalogs;
- conclude agreements with foreign manufacturers;
- visit specialized fairs and exhibitions.
In addition, those who decide how to find suppliers of clothing for sale in the online store are encouraged to contact representatives of trade brands located in Russia or in other countries. And you can go a little different way. Those who do not know how to find a clothing supplier can create their own advertising. In it, you will need to indicate market niches that can interest a potential partner.
Experienced businessmen recommend concluding agreements not with one but with several suppliers at once. This will ensure uninterrupted trading.
When choosing a supplier, it is important to pay attention to criteria such as:
- quality;
- price;
- the frequency of updating the assortment;
- minimum purchase lots;
- availability of necessary documentation and certificates;
- payment methods and terms;
- possibility of deferred payment;
- delivery method;
- availability of packaging and its cost;
- location of the warehouse;
- availability of discounts;
- guarantees for the exchange and return of defective items;
- the availability of information about new products and price changes;
- availability of a responsible employee.
How to find suppliers of children's clothing and adult goods in China? This question is of interest to those who wish to purchase high-quality models at a low cost.
To do this, you need to know the basic ways how to find a supplier for an online store. Ukraine, Russia and other countries of the former CIS have long been using these schemes to buy goods. The very first of them is a search directly for the Chinese manufacturer. Such transactions are carried out in cases where the buyer knows the language of the Middle Kingdom and is able to bargain.
You can buy goods for your online store using the services of intermediaries. At the same time, there will be no strict limits on the minimum volume of purchases, and you will offer a rather large assortment of clothes to your customers. However, in this case, the goods will have higher prices, there will be no production control and quality assurance.
It is possible to ensure the operation of the online store in the event that contracts with wholesale supply companies are concluded. These intermediaries have sufficient information about the manufacturer. In addition, such firms undertake negotiations with sellers, as well as control the quality and quantity of goods shipped. But it should be borne in mind that it is only necessary to conclude contracts with well-known and reliable wholesalers who have proven themselves in the market.
Of course, all conditions for further cooperation should be agreed in advance and enshrined in the draft agreement. This document will be a formal agreement that suits both parties. Do not rush to sign papers. When more and more questions come up, they should be clarified to the end. A good and reliable supplier who is interested in further cooperation will definitely give you the necessary amount of time. If you have the opinion that the other side is not interested in clarifying your questions and is not making any efforts to gain the trust of a future partner, then this is worth considering. Is such a supplier needed? Not. Use the compiled list from the catalog and start a dialogue with another company.
Choosing a future business partner is a very crucial stage. This important step will require the entrepreneur to make an accurate calculation, cold analysis and a critical assessment of the situation.But even with an objective view of the state of affairs, the human factor should never be ruled out. The success of the opening online store will be influenced by subjective reasons and the personal relationships that have developed with the supplier.