Your product – yes, your bottled water – is not a product until it is sold. One of the most important factors to consider when planning your business – or perhaps when producing your first batch – is how you will deliver your bottled water to consumers.
Typically, you have three options:
- The first is to sell directly to buyers
- The second is to sell to retail stores, which are then sold to customers.
- The third is to sell to distributors and wholesalers who sell in retail stores, which are then sold to customers.
A smart way to not miss a sale is to take advantage of all three options. You can sell directly to customers through your website. Customers will place their orders online and you will receive their orders and deliver them right to their doorstep. You can also use your website to sell to retailers, but you’ll be better off with a traditional ordering system.
Selling directly to consumers and retailers can be time consuming as most customers and retailers already have their own proven brands and are generally reluctant to upgrade unless they have a good reason to do so. Second, you won’t make much profit if a significant proportion of your customers are retailers and consumers.
Selling to distributors and wholesalers is therefore the way to go. They deal with multiple brands, so they are generally receptive to new products. And they will help you generate huge amounts of sales and profit. After discussing the reasons why you should prioritize distributors and wholesalers over retailers and consumers, now let’s talk about how to find the right distributors and wholesalers for your bottled water.
First of all, you need to know where to look for the right places. bottled water distributors and wholesalers. So, where exactly do you start your search ? Of course, the Internet is the best place to start, but there are several other places that can help you with your research. Here are a few:
How to find distributors and wholesalers for your bottled water
at. catalogs
Online supplier directories are some of the best places where you can find distributors and suppliers for your bottled water. These catalogs contain profiles of hundreds of thousands of wholesalers and distributors for a variety of products. Refine your search for a list of those who love bottled water and related products.
b. Search engine
You can also use Google to find useful information about wholesalers and distributors of your products. Most of the time you will have to search deep to get detailed information on most of them as they usually have old sites that are not well optimized for search engines. Therefore, do not stop the search until you find multiple pages of search results.
vs. Local library
As you will be better off having distributors and wholesalers in your area, you can find information about them in your local library. Most libraries pay monthly to subscribe to online catalogs from companies and manufacturers that you don’t usually have access to or that you will have to pay a large amount of.
How to identify the right distributors and wholesalers – 4 factors to consider
As wholesalers and distributors are intermediaries between your business and consumers, it is very important to do some checking before signing a contract with a wholesaler or distributor. Here are four factors you need to assess for every wholesaler or distributor.
1. Industry reputation
You can have a high quality product, but your product will not sell if you sell it through distributors and wholesalers with a bad reputation. You should therefore find out about their reputation in the market and in the industry before starting a business with them.
2. Financial stability
You are sure you don’t want any issues in your supply chain. Your sales will drop if one or more of your wholesalers or distributors go bankrupt. So you need to have an idea of their financial viability before entering into a contract with them.
The duration of their activity is a good indicator of financial stability. A distributor or wholesaler that has been in the market for over twenty years has what it takes to overcome financial problems.
3. Experience in the market
Before signing an agreement with a distributor or wholesaler, there is another market factor to check. Do they have enough experience in marketing and selling bottled water – or at least similar products – to your target market ?
If not, they can demonstrate how they plan to successfully sell your bottled water ? Just because a wholesaler or distributor has successfully sold other products does not mean that they will be successful with your product as well.
4. Do they sell in your target area?
If you are developing your brand’s presence in a targeted geographic area, you should make sure that your potential distributor or wholesaler is selling in that area as well.
