How To Find Wholesale Suppliers

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A Step by Step

guide to find
wholesale
suppliers for
Amazon FBA

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Contents

Part 1: How to find


Wholesale Suppliers

1. Product Packaging
2. Trade Shows & Trade
Websites
3. Trade Publications
4. Approaching the Brand

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1. Product Packaging
An unlikely source of finding suppliers
is the packaging.

For a product to be compliant in some


countries, it needs to have a company
on the packaging. Also companies like
having their details as its good
marketing for the company!

This will either be the manufacturer,


marketing authority or importer.

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If you get in contact with the company
on the packaging of the product, you
will either be able to open a
wholesale/trade account and purchase
products or they will inform you of a
wholesaler or distributor to purchase it
from.

Before you get in contact with them, it


is essential to do research on the
company first to find out what they do
so you can tailor your email depending
on what they do.

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Example:
I took this Jerk sauce from my
cupboard as an example. I looked at the
back of the packaging to find a
company and seen in the image below,
there's a company shown.

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From the packaging, I was able to find
the company on the packaging.

After a simple google search, I can see


that this company is the supplier of the
product in the UK and also the supplier
of other brands.

From this point, I would email the


supplier in order to open a
wholesale/trade account.

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2. Attending Trade
Shows & Trade Show
websites
Suppliers want you to open accounts
with them and a way they get their
name out to the public is through Trade
Shows.

Trade shows are the way suppliers


showcase their products and supplies
to other businesses. They also use it as
an opportunity to disperse knowledge
and talk about industry trends in a
tailored / niche environment.

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But the biggest reason they have trade
shows is for suppliers to get leads.

They want people to buy from them,


this means more money for them from
potential new customers like you. And
you get products that make you profit!

There are different trade shows for


specific niches. For example, we’ve
attended a pharmacy show but we’ve
also been to a Toys & Games trade
show.

You need to search for different trade


shows in whatever niche/category you
are looking to sell in.

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If you already have some suppliers, a
good way to find trade shows is to ask
your existing suppliers if they are
attending any. Those that are will
usually let you know that they are but
it's always good to ask if they are
attending any in the year so you can
prepare for it.

You should also search the internet to


try and find Trade Shows. These events
are some of the most advertised in
many industries and suppliers will
always want to attend.

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Unfortunately, some of the trade shows
may only be for professionals in the
industry, however, there are a lot that
are not and this is something you will
want to check before you just turn up.

Every trade show will have a website


where they will tell you the
requirements. Also, note some are free
and others are paid, so it's really for
you to determine if it's worth you going.
Additionally, you can also search
different event spaces to see if there
are any upcoming trade shows.
However, this strategy may be few and
far between due to the number of
events in spaces like this.

Once you find a trade show to go to,


you will want to make sure you know
the requirements, and make sure you
know if you are able to attend.

Once you figure out if it's worth going,


there are a couple of things you want to
do before going that will give you the
best first impression with these
suppliers.

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Business Cards
A business card is essential.

It has your personal information so


people you meet at these trade shows
can easily have and get in contact with
you.

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Business Cards

You will also be more rememberable as


someone who came prepared for these
events than someone who didn't.

The final reason is that the company is


likely to reach out to you and will have
your details of what you want from
them, so no time is wasted on this.

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Elevator Pitch
Make sure before you go to these
events that you know a brief idea of
what you're going to say as an elevator
pitch. The main questions you’ll get
asked are:

What does your company do / what


type of business do you have?

What types of products are you


looking for?

There obviously are likely to be other


questions that suppliers will ask, but
the majority will ask these as they are
vital questions. You will want to have
an answer for both of these that last
less than a minute so you’re not
waffling.
What do you want?
Make sure you have an idea of the types
of products you are looking for from the
supplier.

Do a bit of research on the company


beforehand to know if they offer those
types of products. The last thing you
want is to be asking a game accessory
supplier if they sell sporting products,
this looks like you don’t know what
you’re talking about.

You may speak to suppliers you don't


know what they sell and that's fine, but
when you can be specific about what
you want.

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What do you want?
Using the exhibitor list you should plan
the route of suppliers you want to talk
to.

There will be a lot of suppliers and


planning will make your day easier as
it’ll give you structure.

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A couple of final things to remember: IT
GETS EASIER as you start talking to
people. The first couple of people you
may not come across as best as you
can, but as you get into it, things will go
better you have to keep talking to
people.

You also want to make sure you dress


well, this doesn’t mean a suit and tie,
but it means clean and presentable.
People don’t want to talk to people who
look scruffy, let alone work with them,
so make sure you look extremely
professional.

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We’ve just spoken about trade shows,
however, another way to find suppliers
is by looking at these trade show
websites.

The trade show websites will always


show the suppliers that are attending.

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Take the example below:

This is an international 2023 beauty


trade show and on their website, they
have the exhibitor list / 2023 directory.

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When we clicked "2023 Digital
Directory" it showed this:

An A-Z list of all the suppliers that are


going to be at the trade show. At this
point, you have a lot of suppliers that
may or may not be good for you.

It's now your job to filter them and go


through them to see if they fit your
requirements.

www.theamazonguys.info
To go even further than this, trade
shows happen all over the world.

Don't restrict yourself to your own


country, there are international
suppliers all over the world and
therefore trade shows happen all over
the world!

So search international trade shows


also!

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3. Trade
Publications
Trade publications / Trade magazines
are online magazines/newspapers
whose target audience are people who
work in a particular trade or industry.

They put out daily, weekly or monthly


newsletters or magazines to all
followers and subscribers talking about
things happening in the industry and
other important things going on.

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This strategy is such an unlikely way to
find suppliers but we have used it more
than a handful of times.

The publications continuously talk


about different companies that have
achieved things in the industry and
therefore give away some companies
that you can potentially purchase
products from.

The image on the next page is a perfect


example:

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This company were recognised and
therefore are in the publication.

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The company may be in the publication
for an award, for expanding its
operations. All of these may be
potential suppliers, it's about filtering
the ones that will work for you and the
ones that won't.

Make sure to subscribe to the


newsletters so you don't miss anything.

There are both free publications and


paid publications. you will have to
choose which are best for you and your
business.

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4. Approaching
Brands
Approaching the brands/manufacturer
is one of the most effective and useful
ways to find distributors and
wholesalers.

Here's a breakdown of how a typical


supply chain works:

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The Brands are the ones who
manufacture the product.

They will then sell these products to


distributors/wholesalers who deal with
selling to retail stores, pharmacies and
amazon sellers.

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These distribution / wholesale
companies don't only do this for one
brand. They distribute for 100's and
sometimes 1000's of brands. And sell
these brands to companies.

And this is why we say get in touch with


brands to find distributors...

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If you were to message 5 different
brands and open a wholesale account
with them, you will have 5 suppliers.

However, if you ask a brand for their


wholesalers & distributors and they
give you 5 companies to contact. By
doing this 5 times, you have a potential
of 25 distributors whom you can open a
wholesale account with.

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With this method, there are still some
things to note. At the different levels,
the pricing is likely to be different.

Buying directly from the brands is


likely to be the cheapest unit cost.
However, they are also likely to have
the highest minimum order value.

Distributors on the other hand may


have higher prices than the brand (not
always), but their minimum order
values tend to be lower.

And wholesalers tend to have even


higher prices. These differences is
prices is how this food chain works as
seen in the infographic below:

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Manufacturer
Lowest Price
Highest Minimum Order

Distributor
Medium Price
Lower Minimum Order

Wholesaler
Highest Price
Lowest Minimum Order
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While this is generally how this food
chain works, it's not always.

But the image above will always help


you to understand who you are dealing
with.

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All in all, these are the main strategies
that we use for our Amazon business.
We have used them since we
discovered them and will continue to.

To this day, they work. And if you don't


believe us... try it!

Thank you for taking the time to read


this course, we hope it provided
knowledge of how to get out there and
find suppliers, distributors &
wholesalers!

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