| Only the manufacturers and the retailers know the real | | | | nondurable goods (printing and writing paper, groceries, |
| importance of the role which the wholesale distributor | | | | chemicals and periodicals), don't sell to ultimate |
| plays in the whole process of creating the good, and | | | | household consumers. |
| then selling it to the customer. Therefore, it is | | | | Products exist in all shapes, sizes, forms, and types. |
| understood that neither the manufacturer, nor the | | | | Anything and everything around us is some sort of |
| reseller, or retailer can survive without them. | | | | product. This indicates that there is a lot of room for |
| Now what exactly is it that the wholesale distributor | | | | growth in this area. As a wholesale distributor, you will |
| does, which makes them so important in the whole | | | | perhaps run a separately possessed and operated |
| lifecycle of product creation and selling? Simple: They | | | | organization that purchases and puts up for sale |
| act as the middle party. They buy from the | | | | products of which you have taken ownership. |
| manufacturer, at the lowest price possible, and they | | | | Normally, such operations are run from one or more |
| resell to the retailer or reseller at a profit, who then sell | | | | warehouses where stocked goods are received and |
| products at a higher profit. For example, let's take a | | | | afterwards transported to clientele. |
| can of motor oil. It is manufactured, and then | | | | Therefore, as a wholesale distributor, you will be buying |
| packaged. Then it sold to the resellers who sell it at a | | | | goods, but will be selling them as a profit. Put this way, |
| profit. Te key player between the manufacturer and | | | | it seems like that is pretty much the same thing which |
| the reseller is the wholesaler. They move the product | | | | a retailed would do. However, the difference is that a |
| from the manufacturer to the customer. The merchant | | | | wholesaler does not contact the customer; rather he |
| wholesale distributor will buy the product from the | | | | she contacts other businesses. Therefore, the |
| manufacturer, and then store it in warehouses. When | | | | wholesale distributor works in a business to business |
| needed, (from time to time) the wholesaler will sell the | | | | realm, by selling to resellers and possibly other |
| product to the reseller or use it for himself. | | | | wholesale dealers too. However, this is the traditional |
| According to U.S. Industry and Trade Outlook, published | | | | definition of a wholesaler. There are many distributors |
| by The McGraw-Hill Companies and the U.S. | | | | who open for certain hours to serve the general public, |
| Department of Commerce/International Trade | | | | so that they too get a chance to buy products at a |
| Administration, wholesale trade includes establishments | | | | lower price, i.e. wholesale price, and not retail price. |
| that sell products to retailers, merchants, contractors | | | | However, in such cases, the public may have to buy |
| and/or industrial, institutional and commercial users. | | | | products in bulk, and not in selective quantities, like they |
| Wholesale distribution firms, which sell both durable | | | | may do so at resellers. However, the traditional |
| goods (furniture, office equipment, industrial supplies | | | | wholesale distributor is still the one who buys "from the |
| and other goods that can be used repeatedly) and | | | | source" and sells to a reseller. |