How to Know When You Have Found the Right Wholesale Supplier? Part Three: Product Match

Do you feel confuse sometimes when choosing a specific product for your store? The times when you are not at all certain what to buy for your customers, which items to sell or even the ones that will be popular? Selling can be tricky sometimes, and so is buying. Both are interlinked of course, you buy from a supplier and then sell back to your customers. You can’t possibly separate one from the other. So product match is a critical part of the whole buying and selling process. You must choose carefully when buying, and buy carefully from suppliers. This article is part three of the series How to Know When You Have Found The Right Wholesale Supplier? The links to part one and two can be found below:

• Part One: Right Price
• Part Two: Credibility

Product Match

Its very easy for you to fall into the trap of buying from a wholesaler that offers a decent range of products and at the lowest price possible. But, wait a second. That would make you and the other 80% of sellers selling your product just about the same!? If your products don’t stand out, and your website or store is pretty average, plus your service is just okay, how do expect your customers to talk about your store with their friends? Do you think your customers will boast about that ordinary company selling about the same products as the store right next to it? Of course not! Your customers will only talk if your store is unimaginably and surprisingly remarkable. Unremarkable, and you will be forgotten in a minute (or less). Make it a goal for your business to be remarkable in all aspects. Shakespeare once said: “Nothing so common-place as to wish to be remarkable.”

Friends share only the truly good stuff or the truly horrible ones. So one of the surest way for you to gain publicity is by being the best in your core strength area, whether it is price, convenience, store selection or others. Another way to gain free publicity is by being horrid, that means really really bad that your customers will tell the first person, and the second person and the third, and so forth about how bad your store is. Of course, this unhappy customer is unlikely to return again to your store unless you know about him, and are able to understand the reason for his displeasure, and correct it if you can.

So back to the main point which is product match. You buy from a wholesaler that offers an incredible range products, so when your customers buy from you, they will talk about you. But sourcing great products is not enough. You need to ensure that the products are a match to your customers. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Who are you selling to?
• What desires in your customers that you are fulfilling with your product?
• Do your customers want your product?
• How much are your customers willing to pay for your product?
• Are the products that you intend to sell a good match to your customers desires?
• Are you fulfilling a need in your customer that no other product can?

Do your homework. Don’t jump into a business without doing some research. Set aside a period for your market survey and research your market. If you plan to sell online, why not check out what others are selling and buying? What products are selling like hot cakes, and what products are selling as dry as the sahara? You can use ebay, or mpire as a research tool. If you plan to open a store, casually observe some of the fast selling items in your store niche. I’m not saying to neglect the less popular items. Just be aware of the 20% of the products that are making 80% of the store’s sale. With this awareness and knowledge, you will be able to plan your product sourcing more carefully, and won’t just jump into the wagon of selling.

Conclusion

Product match is an integral factor when choosing a wholesale supplier. You simply and utterly cannot ignore this fact. If your product is wanted by your niche market, you have a high chance of succeeding in your business. Abraham Lincoln once said, “What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.” If you don’t want to kill your business chances of succeeding, make sure your product is a match, what you are offering is remarkable, and the publicity that you are getting is a positive one. You will succeed.

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