Wholesale and Retail Customers - Are They Really That Different?

As part of my mini-series looking at the move from wholesale to retail, I am looking at the differences between supplying wholesale and retail customers. If you are making the move from pure wholesaling to retailing, or indeed the opposite shift, knowing these (sometimes subtle) differences will help you to develop your business smoothly and efficiently.

Wholesale relationships are hopefully longterm, so they rely heavily on trust, consistency, good communication and integrity. That's not to say retail customers don't expect the same, but (depending on your product offering) they're more likely to have more of a snapshot view of your business so they are generally more focussed on efficient, professional service and quality merchandise.

The usual factors like price, quality, features & delivery timescales are important here. But wholesale customers will be looking for greater reassurance on reliability, communication and stock availability. Because if any of these things is missing, they will let their customers down.

Both types of customer expect (and deserve) an easy ordering process, and this is where a self-service B2B ordering solution can help you to offer a professional, convenient way to process your wholesale orders.

So, while it is true that wholesale customers have very different needs to consumers, they generally expect the same things as their retail customers, plus some extras!