How to Get Your Products into Shops: A Wholesale Starter Guide

Selling guide · Updated October 2026

Selling to shops is a different business from selling to customers. One conversation can bring an order of forty items instead of one, and a good stockist reorders for years without you finding a single new buyer. In exchange you give up about half the retail price and take on a buyer who expects you to be organised. This guide covers what to have in place first, how to choose shops, what to send, and how to handle the questions a buyer will ask. The running example is a small greeting card range.

Three things that must be true first

• The price works at half. Shops generally expect to pay around 50% of the retail price. If that is below your cost, stop here and fix the product.
• You can make it again. A shop that sells out wants more within weeks, the same as before.
• It is ready for a shelf. Packaging that survives handling, a clear price point, your name on it.

Run the numbers before you send anything

A card retails at $4.50, so the wholesale price is $2.25. Printed, with an envelope and a sleeve, it costs 70 cents. That leaves $1.55 a card, against about $3.80 when the maker sells it herself. Less per card, but look at the volume: ten shops each reordering $120 a quarter is $4,800 a year, about 2,100 cards, and roughly $3,300 of profit without a single market stall. The wholesale price calculator checks whether your own product survives the halving. If you make it by hand and have not costed your time, do that first with the guide to pricing handmade items.

Choose shops the way a buyer would

The most common mistake is approaching every shop that sells roughly the right kind of thing. Buyers say yes to products that fit what is already working for them. Before adding a shop to your list, check three things, in person if you can:

• Price range. Do the cards on their shelves sell for about what yours would?
• Customers. Are the people in the shop the people who buy from you already?
• Gaps. Is there something your range adds, instead of duplicating what they stock?

Start with around twenty independent shops. Independents decide quickly and one person usually does the buying. Avoid pitching two shops on the same street: stockists value having something their neighbour does not, and offering that is one of the few things a small supplier can give that a big one cannot.

What to have ready: the line sheet

A line sheet is a one- or two-page document that lets a buyer place an order without asking you anything. It is plainer than a brochure. It should show:

• A clear photo, name and code for each product
• The wholesale price and the suggested retail price, side by side
• How items are packed, for example cards in sixes per design
• Your minimum order, lead time and how to order
• Your name, email and phone number

Have samples you can post or drop off, and decide your terms before anyone asks. Buyers notice hesitation.

The terms buyers ask about

Minimum order. Set one, so small orders are worth packing. For the cards, a $90 minimum is 40 cards and $62 of profit. Too high and a new shop will not risk it; too low and postage eats the order. The break-even calculator helps you find the smallest order that pays.

Payment. Asking for payment before dispatch on a first order is standard. Paying after delivery, often within 30 days, is something to offer once a shop has a record with you.

Lead time. Say how long an order takes and then beat it. Reliability is what a buyer remembers.

Exclusivity. A shop may ask to be your only stockist nearby. That is reasonable for a defined area if they order regularly, so tie it to a minimum amount of business.

Damages and slow sellers. Decide whether you will replace damaged stock or swap designs that do not move. A swap costs little and makes a second order far more likely.

Making the approach

Find out who does the buying; in a small shop it is usually the owner. Email first, or call at a quiet time and ask when would suit. Do not pitch across the counter on a busy Saturday. Keep the message short, make it about their shop, and attach the line sheet.

The detail about their shop does more work than anything else in that message. It shows you have chosen them, and buyers can tell when they are one of two hundred.

Following up, and hearing no

Most first emails get no reply, and that is rarely a decision. Follow up once after a week or so, briefly, then leave it for a season. A "not right now" is worth asking about: timing and budget are common reasons, and both change. Keep a simple list of who you contacted, when, and what they said. Come back with something new, such as a seasonal design or a best-seller you can point to.

After the first order: make reordering easy

The first order proves little. The second is what makes a stockist. Deliver on time and well packed, with an invoice that matches the order. A few weeks later, ask what is selling and offer to top up the best lines; the shop is busy and will not always remember to reorder. Tell them which designs do well elsewhere. If a display stand or a small sign helps the product sell, consider supplying one. All of this costs less than finding a new shop.

Know when wholesale is not the right move

Wholesale suits products that are quick to make, easy to repeat and cheap to post. It suits one-off or very labour-heavy pieces badly, because half the price rarely covers the hours. For those, selling direct is the better route, and the guide to where to sell online compares the options. It is fine to wholesale part of a range and keep the rest for your own customers. Check each product separately with the profit margin calculator, or work forward from cost with the markup calculator, before it goes on the line sheet.

Frequently asked questions