Finding the best wholesale products to sell at your retail store or boutique can be difficult as trends are always changing. Here’s how to stock your boutique well and drive sales.

If you do an online search for the best wholesale products to sell, you will get varied results, like Shopify’s list with doormats, storage containers, and kitchen towels in the top three. You can’t rely solely on lists like these because trends change rapidly in some categories.

Figuring out the best wholesale products to sell starts with defining “the best.” Depending on the size of your business, financial goals, and many other factors, “best” can mean something different for every retailer.

When you think of the best products, do you think of the ones that will sell quickly, have the highest profit margins, or are trending right now? Do you want the best artisan-made products or mass-produced items? Do you sell online, in a store, or both? Where it’s made, if it’s seasonal, target customer, niche related, minimum orders, quality, and shipping costs can influence your decision.

Finding the best, and finding the best for you, are two different concepts. As a business owner, it’s essential to focus more on the latter. Otherwise, you may face pitfalls like having too much competition, which can force you to reduce price, which reduces profits, and so on.

Finding the best wholesale products to sell for your business and your customer can be done using guidelines like the ones below.

Is There Demand?

Do people want the item you’re selling? That’s a simple question with a complex answer. You must be able to figure out if your customers like the item enough to purchase it.

Don’t forget to check the location of the demand. For example, a California beach-themed tee may not be in demand in the mountain towns of Colorado.

If you sell online, choose an item in demand globally.

Finding products in demand is one thing; ensuring they are in supply is another.

How’s the Supply?

Wholesalers don’t always have an endless supply of a product in demand. You don’t want to decide on a product until you know how many are available. Some retailers take pre-orders to amp up sales. But if you can’t guarantee the item, you may want to avoid pre-orders.

If the supply is low on a particular item, research the next best thing. Provide options to your customers that give them a product like the one that’s in demand so you can properly set up your inventory management.

What’s Your Competition?

A competitor analysis will help you get to know your competition, like who they are and why they are successful. Understanding your competition enables you to evaluate pricing strategies. Too much competition can drive prices down. However, if you can find ways to make your product stand out from the competition, you can have an edge.

The benefits or features the product offers your customers are what can help you stand out. A hoodie with built-in headphones, a spoon and fork combo, or a personal safe in the shape of a soda can are examples of products with benefits. If you are a clothing retailer, offering a monthly subscription service could win over customers.

Many retailers find success by focusing on niche sub-categories. For instance, a grocer trying to sell all types of vegetables may do much better if they only sell organic vegetables. Or, if you want to sell face masks, choose a niche like facemasks for medical staff or facemasks for children.

Who’s Your Wholesaler?

You’ve decided to purchase items at a low cost and resell them at a retail price. The wholesale vendor you choose will influence how much profit margin you can create. Other factors include the location of the wholesale company, whether they are domestic or overseas.

You will also need to figure out how you will find your supplier. Some search only online, while others attend trade shows and visit companies in person. When you find the right wholesaler, you can start working out the terms of your contract, which focus on price cuts that can help you increase profits.

The supply chain you choose for wholesale products should make you feel like a valued customer, so you can make your buyers feel valued.

Once you find a wholesaler, there are things you can do to make your best wholesale items to resell even better.

Working With Your Wholesaler

Wholesale companies have the inside scoop from distributors, like what’s trending now and what’s on the horizon. They can tell you which items have the best quality and design, how the item is selling, and in what areas and many will negotiate to give you a better deal.

For example, if you are buying wholesale women’s clothing, it’s important to work with your wholesaler and identify which pricing style and reselling efforts are best for your retail store.

Knowing all this information makes the item you are reselling easier to market. And marketing to your target customer is crucial in the retail resell business.

Reselling the Best Wholesale Products

Selling today can be confusing. It’s all about what the customer wants right now. You could put the highest quality product on your shelves. But the customer may choose the cheap fidget toy next to it. You’ve got to show the customer why they need the product in your store. You can do this with marketing.

Consider your marketing strategy when deciding on the best wholesale products to sell your customers. The right marketing plan can make the product a money maker for your business. Or not. Marketing can help you generate demand for a product when it’s done the right way.

Do you have a marketing budget? Will you post the item to your social media pages? Will you run promotional sales? How can you use marketing to enhance the resell of your product? Answer questions like these to further develop your marketing strategy.

As you can see, choosing the best wholesale products to sell involves much more than having great taste and instincts, which also help. But with research and planning, and a good wholesaler, you can find a wholesale item to resell with great success.