Five Minute Friday: Six Questions to Ask Wholesale Vendors at Market

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Business can be a lonely game, but it doesn't have to be. Welcome to Boutique Chat where we explore community over competition and how to scale your company with the balance and the happiness that we all seek. We'll hear from product based businesses of all types, retailers, e commerce and wholesale brands, along with industry experts shaping the.

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I'm your host Ashley Alderson from the Boutique Hub and I can't wait to chat.

Okay, so you're headed to market and maybe it's your first time, maybe you've been there before. But you want to know the six most important questions to ask your vendors when you go to market. Here they are. First question, do you zip code or territory protect? Some brands do and will only allow you to sell certain styles or the brand as a whole within a certain location. If you're a storefront, some brands are wide open and they'll allow you to sell even though someone down the street does some. They'll also allow you to sell online if you don't have a brick and mortar. But understanding where the brand stands is really important. One is not better than the other, let me tell you. But it's important that you know the answer to this question to make sure it fits what you're looking for. This is a really hot brand or really high end customer demand type of a brand. So do you zip or territory protect? Second, what are your pack sizes? So you want to know? Okay, I've looked at the price per item, but how many of these suckers do I need to order at once? So if you're in apparel, this is also important to note. What is the sizing in the packs? So is this two smalls, two mediums, two larges or is it three smalls and two mediums and one large? And here you just happen to have a more extra large and large customer. You're going to have a lot of leftover smalls on your hands. So first, how do you know what's selling for you? Making sure you've done your homework. But then second, making sure the pre packed sizing really fits fits what you're looking for. Or if you're in shoes, can you handle taking on that extended size if it's a large pack of shoes or if it's candles? How many candles can I sell? What's in a case pack of candles? Understanding pack sizing is absolutely critical. Third question, what's your minimum order and is there a reorder? Can I handle a hundred dollar opening order or is this a beautiful home and gift line and it's a $10,000 opening order. There are many of those that are in existence and they're incredible lines. And sometimes having that higher barrier to entry is really nice for your business because it means it's going to be a little bit more exclusive for your business and if it's popular, maybe a higher sell through rate as well. On that note, the fourth question to ask is, is there an MSRP or is there any type of protection around pricing or can you run sales at will? Can you price at will or are you going to have a limited amount of margin because there is an MSRP or some some type of suggested manufacturer price? Fifth question. What are your delivery dates? So if you're in apparel, you're probably going to walk into a booth and then you're going to see different colored hangers or different colored racks and those are all going to have dates attributed to them based on when these items are shipping with home and gift. If you're working with your rep, you're also going to understand, okay, I'm ordering almost a year in advance. It's typically much further out than apparel is. And understanding what is the delivery date on this thing that I'm ordering now, if I'm ordering for Christmas and the holidays, again, I'm probably ordering a year in advance to make sure I get those pieces in time. Delivery dates are crucial. Making sure you know when to receive items and you aren't just asking your vendor to ship at will and you're getting a piece here and a piece there. Or I get the tops here and I get the matching set bottoms there and I can't sell them together. Now my cash is tied up for two months because the items did not ship together. So delivery times and as much communication with your vendor as you can on those times is absolutely critical. All right, sixth question to ask. This is an important one. Are you ready? Are you a Hub member? Are you a member of the Boutique Hub? This is important because we have over a thousand vetted quality brands that we work with at the Boutique Hub that not only sell on hubventory.com our own grassroots wholesale website that has the best pricing, best pricing for Boutique Hub members. But also many of these brands are selling at most of the shows that you go to. Some are in some really great showrooms. So we want to make sure that we do the best job we can of curating and vetting wonderful brands that you can trust and work with. So knowing if they're also a part of the Boutique Hub is also helpful to know what type of relationship you might be able to expect from having this brand in the future. All right, good luck on your next trip to market. If you're headed to Dallas or to Atlanta, please come by and visit the Hub showroom. Whether you're a member or not. We would love to see you and meet you, maybe feed you some food, some drink and get you some education or some, you know, swag while you're in town. Or if you're in Las Vegas or you're in Nashville or Miami or any of these other fun shows New York that we get to attend. Chances are we also have a booth at the show, so look for the little Hub signs on vetted Hub member brands all over market and all over the showrooms. And then look for the Hub booth or showroom. Come by. I would love to meet you. Our team would love to meet you and just learn more about your business. All right, that's it for five Minute Friday, you guys. Hopefully again, this is helpful to you. Let me know if there's more quick tips you want to hear. Shoot me a message at AJ Alderson or the Boutique Hub on Instagram or inside of our members groups for members of the Boutique Hub. I'll be there to answer your questions or leave a rating and review. Again, if you have a topic, let me know, but I want to get you some quick, actionable tips that you can put into play right away in your business each and every Friday. Thanks for listening guys. I will be back. I'll see you next week. Take care.

Thanks for listening guys. I hope you took away all kinds of nuggets and new ideas from this week's episode. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a rating and review. We love to hear your feedback and give you a chance to be featured on the show each and every week. For more information on our spirit of community over competition and to access guest downloads and bonuses and all the resources we talked about on the show, head on over to the boutiquehub.com and join the community.

We'll see you next week.