I should have done this post like 4 posts ago as my first ‘returning’ post but anyways.

After finally completing some of my biggest projects, I am back here to do what I love – blog and share the knowledge.

You will see daily posts, numerous daily posts actually. We will discuss the industry, we will review wholesalers, we will be taking your emails and comments to help you further or start your business. We will expose scammers (list coming soon) we will do product tests, check out wholesalers customer service and be broadcasting live from the best wholesale trade shows. And a whole lot of other great stuff!

Please introduce yourself, please leave a comment, please leave an email, I would love to hear from you!

This show is geared towards retail liquidation and close-outs and will feature 30,000 square feet and over 105 booths. If this is your line of business, make sure you get your booth/tickets now.

Oh and by the way, if your not from the West Coast, you better book a few extra days as California is beautiful that time of the year!

More details on the ASD website here

Pricing is a big factor that can help you weed out scammers from real wholesalers. As the old saying goes, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. A person that recently emailed me told me about an experience they had last month. They had been dealing in wholesale apparel for many years and had worked with a variety of wholesale distributors. So they saw a good deal for shoes made by an Italian brand and jumped on it. Instead of ordering a sample, they ordered 800 pairs since they had dealt with the supplier many times before and never had an issue. The wholesale supplier ONLY accepted bank wire (no way of getting your money back) and the buyer thought it was not an issue.

Well low and behold the shoes arrived and were utter junk. Supposedly made by a brand in the league of Armani and at a price of $35USD/pop landed. Well now the buyer has 800 pieces of junk which are literally worth nothing because they are 100% FAKE.

I have said it before and I will say it again. Please be very careful when dealing with wholesalers and when you buy wholesale products. Order a sample of 10 pieces before you order 800 of them because you can live with a loss of $350. Oh and of course the wholesaler continues to insist they are real.

Internet Retailer recently released a study showing online buyers are bouncing back and beginning to purchase again. So for all you wholesalers, you better be on your A-Game. If you did not re-evaluate your strategy, I suggest you take some time to do that ASAP. See where your marketing efforts are focused and see if they are working – Which is where this post is going – Online Marketing.

In a period of slow sales, everyone is budget conscious and marketing is one of the quickest things to go. Usually this isn’t a good idea, if you haev to make cutbacks than do so but as little as possible. Your best friend in these times is social media and social media marketing.

There are many tools out there that are free which will help you raise brand awareness, generate some buzz and get some traffic into your site.

For wholesale industry related traffic and for people that are going to purchase items in wholesale from you I would remember to maintain a professional image and work with professional social media networks:

If you do not have a company profile on the following I suggest you get them asap:

1. LinkedIn – One of the most valuable tools in  business ever

2. Twitter – If you have many customers it is a great way to keep them up to date with what’s going on with your company, what’s new etc

3. Facebook – Different demographic than LinkedIn but HUGE place

Apart from social networks, also think about starting a company blog.

My blog here for example uses wordpress which is FREE, you can find many FREE templates and it is very SIMPLE to install

You don’t have to blog your heart out, even once every 2 -3 days is fine – It is about giving your customers a place to interact with you, formally and informally.

There are a few ways to obtain a list of email addresses which you can email your promotions and offers to. The first, which isn’t really that great, would be to purchase a list of email addresses from another company. This is not the recommended method though because the recipients are likely to receive the emails in their junk or spam folders. You would not want potential customers to think your company is associated with spam or spamming. This could lead to the recipients blocking your email address and not receiving any more offers from you. These days this method is not likely to be used as most companies do not sell their clients’ information.

The best way to get a group of email addresses to email would simply be to create your own list. On your website when people purchase an item or become a member include a section in the form which allows them to provide their email address and a box to mark if they would like to subscribe to the mailing list. You can also create a spot somewhere on the homepage allowing them to enter their email address to be put onto the mailing list. You can let your customers know that if they sign up they will receive exclusive offers and know about sales before anyone else. Every time you are going to send an email blast, prior to sending it update your mailing list with any new email addresses from people who joined after your last blast. This way your list will continue to grow with minimal work.

Using the last method mentioned, it is the best way to create a solid mailing list. You can rest assured that your emails will not end up in the recipients’ junk or spam folder. Them joining means they would enjoy hearing from you, so you should stay consistent with email blasts. If you would like to take it a step further, you can do newsletters, perhaps every month or every two weeks, which ever suits you and your business better. Don’t forget to share us with your family and friends! If you have any questions, concerns, or you would like to suggest a topic for a future post, please fill out the form on our Get In Touch With Us page.