The Role of the Wholesale Distributor and What We Do
The marketplace is an intricate web. There are plenty of moving parts that make all of the consumer and business to business market work on a day to day basis. Part of that web is the role of the wholesaler, which is what we do here at Wisco Supply. A wholesaler has an important role in the marketplace. The whole concept of wholesale, of course, is changing in many ways due to eCommerce and giant companies like Amazon. This doesn’t always affect our industry directly, but we thought we’d take a look at how wholesalers work in general and take a look at the marketplace.
The wholesaler means that we are close to the manufacturer in the supply chain. The companies that produce and make the boilers, air systems, and pumping systems are working directly with us as the first part of the supply chain that distributes their manufactured goods into the market and where they need to go. As we get the products from the manufacturer we can connect directly with licensed retailers, customers, and sometimes the consumer themselves. Wholesalers can provide direct access to products that certain industries need.
Interestingly enough, wholesales or the concept of the wholesaler has been around for a long time. Even in early trading and when people were just opening up the markets and exchanging goods over a wide marketplace, the wholesales was a necessary part of the supply chain. This is because manufacturers concentrate on one thing: manufacturing. They are in charge of creating the necessary equipment or goods that they are good at. Therefore, they need the wholesaler to take the merchandise and open it up to the market and get it to the end user. The manufacturers need the rest of the commerce chain to inject it and get it flowing into the market.
The Expertise of the Wholesaler
One important concept about the wholesaler is that they have expertise on the matter. Here at Wisco Supply, we have experts in some of the products that we stock and make sure that our experts can provide you, the business that needs the product, with the up-to-date and accurate information on what you are purchasing. Part of our job as a wholesale distributor is to communicate the necessary information about the product and ensure that customers are educated on what they are purchasing, as well as having a direct line to the manufacturer.
Different Types of Wholesalers
There can be different types of wholesales out there, each with their defined purpose and ways of interacting with the market. Some might say that the three main types of wholesales include: merchant wholesalers, agents brokers and commission merchants, manufacturer sales branches and offices. The most common type is the merchant wholesaler which is also known as the distributor, supply house, wholesaler. These are most common because they obtain their products directly from the manufacturer and then resell the products to business or retailers. In this case, this type of wholesaler has an established relationship with the manufacturer and understands deeply the kind of products they carry in order to serve as needed information for the buyer who needs the products.
Quick Snapshot of Today’s Market
Amazon, for example, is not exactly a wholesaler, although sometimes people put them in that ecommerce category. Amazon would more likely be considered a retailer, as they are selling directly to the customers and consumers at a reasonable price. Ebay, as another example, might be considered more of a wholesaler. Ebay gives you more control over your marketing and the way that you sell your products. So some of the places we interact with as consumers use this model to interact with their customer base.
The Wholesaler in the Wider Market
Wholesale distribution is responsible for a hefty chunk of the U.S economy. Over 300,000 distributors do about $3.2 trillion worth of business in the U.S every year. According to the U.S Census Bureau for August 2018, wholesale distribution trade is responsible for about $500 billion in sales of goods worth about $600 billion.
Get Supplies You Need From a Trusted Wholesaler
Wisco Supply has been around since the late 1960s. It was started as an independently owned and operated company. Like many of this country’s wholesalers, it is a privately owned and small business that operates in the community they serve. As our company grew across states, we continued to provide high-quality products to the people that needed it across the Southwest. Today, we serve a wide range of customers that need industrial supplies and products like boilers and pumping systems for their factory, company, or place of business. We strive to provide high quality customer service.
