Small businesses around North America are becoming more and more digitally capable and are moving towards “smart wholesale”. The whole world is digitizing and 2020 was the year everything changed. McKinsey research stated that we’ve fast forwarded 5 years in consumer and business digital adoption in a matter of months. Consumer online sales have rocketed, and wholesalers raced to set up their own online marketplaces and online platforms as the country shut down. Digital commerce is at the all-time high with global online marketplace operators selling large quantities of products and services daily.

But there are still those who cling to old wholesale habits, methods that have higher costs of customer acquisition and retention, and demand a greater amount of time, effort, and finances.

If you really want to save time and money, increase efficiency and sales, and expand your customer reach, smart wholesale — using the power and reach of digital marketplaces — is the way to go.

Access to more buyers in one place

In smart wholesale, every wholesale buyer is at your fingertips. This gives an online retailer businesses like yours the widest reach possible to the largest number of buyers not just in your area, but around the country.

This also means you’ll have thousands of business categories to serve covering nearly every industry including retail, accommodations and hospitality, education, the public sector, and more.

Digital means efficiency

Smart wholesale means having all the features and benefits of digital marketplaces within reach. These could cover everything from smart payment systems, efficient inventory management systems, and even customer service.

For wholesalers, this means no account management required, no need to chase payments, having a simple order and invoice management system via your seller dashboard, having the ability to control the buying segments you wish to sell to, and being able to set your own minimum order quantity (MOQ) and minimum order value (MOV) instantly. It also means easy, seamless integration options into your existing processes. Buyers and sellers all win from this approach – customer experience also improves when there’s less friction.

Ride on the local wave

More and more local businesses have become wary of the international supply chain — and for good reason. A lot of it is unreliable and often not up to standards. In a 2020 survey conducted by TradeSquare, 85% of small businesses suggested they are now less confident with the international supply chain.

Local wholesalers need to take advantage of this growing behavior and find ways to connect with local businesses looking for local sellers — difficult to do with traditional wholesale practices, but easier with smart wholesale marketplaces.

Seller protection

Unfortunately, marketplace sellers engaging in traditional wholesale practices receive no protections against unverified buyers, making the payment experience unreliable and potentially uncertain. Dealing with old practices also means having inefficient invoice and payment processes.

In smart wholesale buying, a verification process ensures that buyers are true retailers and businesses. Payments to the sellers are also paid regularly after orders have been marked as shipped — even if the buyer choses flexible credit options.

Expanded marketing

Finally, working with the machinery of a smart wholesale platform also means being a part of their marketing efforts, joining the reach of their activities in digital advertising, social media, and buyer outreach thereby expanding your business’s marketing efforts without any effort on your part.

Wholesale selling is changing for the better. Choosing smart wholesale to expand into marketplaces will help you reach more retailers. Start a free trial of our digital platform today to increase your online sales and start selling in multiple marketplaces today!