Have you automated sales yet?
Make moolah while you make…
The first I sold anything as a maker to a store, we got an order via email. It was exciting and then the process that followed was like throwback to the pre-ecommerce era. We were told to reply back with a linesheet. Then send an invoice. Then we got paid by a check.
That check was sitting in our drawer for months.
The accountant called. Because their accounts payable didn’t balance on Quicktime with an uncashed check.
The check had expired. We had to ask for a new check.
That was seven years ago. Fast forward, today, we’re still apalled by how slow this entire industry is. But few startups are changing the model. Since we’re a wholesale platform ourselves, we probably shouldn’t start naming all our competitors, but fuck it, we’re going to do it anyway:
You can pick one of several services to automate sales based on where you are in your wholesale career and what type of stuff you sell.
MARKETPLACES
The Grommet
Niche: Techy stuff, Gadgets
This is a cool place if you have an innovative twist to your products. The genius of Grommet is they source products from their retail side of their business so they are already aware of what sells at what volume.
Modalyst
Niche: Clothing and Accessories
If you’d like to drop ship your goods via other wholesalers on Shopify, this is a good free service for makers. Once you’re on Modalyst, dropshippers can post your entire collection to their shopify store and do the selling for you.
SKUE
Niche: Premium Handmade
Our core service is focused on feedback from retailers, the kind of insights you’d get from retailers but at a fraction of the cost.If you just want to automate your sales for cheap, we have a five dollar plan.
Fitroy Toys
Niche: Toys
This is the best option if you are a d-uh…toy maker
Faire
Niche: Home decor, Socks and Everything in between
Faire started few years ago and has grown quite fast. Faire doesn’t really have a niche but has a curated set of products. They also offer free money and returns which is attractive to buyers.
Tundra
Niche: TBD
Tundra is a new platform that offers free shipping and low commissions
Bulletin.co
Niche: The kind of stuff they sell at their Brooklyn store
Bulletin is a store in Brooklyn that’s now started their own B2B platform. Don’t know much about about it yet but the products are curated along with the style of their store.
Etsy Wholesale
Niche: Handmade
Etsy wholesale recently closed but you can still use Etsy as an option. If you are on the Etsy Platform, probably a no-brainer. They have a lot of buyers, paving the way for digitizing maker wholesale and of course, have a long history. We love the fact that they opened up e-commerce to hobbyist makers. It’s actually where we got our start.
We’ll keep adding to this list as we find new marketplaces
PLATFORMS
Brandboom
Another service that falls into a product. It’s widely used by rep groups to do business with suppliers. They have a free plan for posting three products.
Shopify
You can use some hacks or plugins to do wholesale on Shopify.
Wherewear
Included here but it’s typically used by large wholesalers who sell at tradeshows
Of course if you search “Wholessale Inventory Management” you’ll probably find plenty of options.
Getting orders via emails and then sending over an invoice we think is a very limiting way to do business. You need all the orders in one place or else retailers have to dig up the last invoice and by that time, they’re probably going to move on.
