The WholesalePilot blog
Sell your product wholesale — to real B2B buyers.
300 practical playbooks for product brands that want a channel they own: finding buyers, cold outreach that actually gets replies, pricing and terms, retailer-by-retailer guides, and scaling beyond the marketplace.
Every guide here is written for the person who makes the product and has to sell it into someone else’s shelf space. That is a different job from selling to consumers: you are pitching a buyer who already has a shelf full of suppliers, who thinks in cases and margins rather than units, and who will judge you on whether you sound like a supplier before they judge the product.
The library is grouped into 10 topics. The fastest route in is not to browse them but to pick the sentence below that matches where you are stuck.
You have never sold wholesale
Wholesale means selling by the case at roughly half of retail to a buyer who resells your product. The margin math and the etiquette are different from selling direct, and getting them wrong is what makes a first pitch land badly.
You want your product in stores
Stores do not find you. Each route in — direct to independents, through a rep, through a marketplace, through a distributor — costs something different and moves at a different speed.
You are setting up wholesale on Shopify
Your store can run the wholesale channel: separate price lists, company profiles, terms and a checkout retailers can use. What that takes depends on which plan you are on.
You are deciding whether it is worth it
Wholesale margin looks worse per unit and is often better per hour, because no wholesale order carries ad spend or returns handling. The real constraint is cash.
Sell Handmade to Boutiques From a Home Studio
You do not need a warehouse to supply boutiques. Here is how a home studio looks credible to a buyer, what to carry in, and how to win the first ten shops.
7 min readHow Do Brands Get Into Stores? The Five Routes
Direct outreach, trade shows, wholesale marketplaces, sales reps and distributors: how each route works, what it costs, and the steps from contact to order.
7 min readStartup Brand Retail: Climbing From Boutiques to Chains
What changes when a DTC startup moves past independent stockists: distributors, category reviews, chargebacks, trade spend and the costs nobody quotes.
7 min readIndependent Brand Wholesale: Terms That Keep Control
The trade terms an independent brand should set before its first stockist: pricing policy, territory, resale rules, returns and who owns the customer.
7 min readIndie Brand Wholesale: Selling Handmade Into Shops
How a maker moves from markets to stockists: consignment versus wholesale, pricing handmade work for a half-price trade sale, and batching production.
7 min readNew Brand Wholesale: Winning the First Ten Accounts
How a brand with no sales history gets its first stockists: what to show instead of data, where to start, and the offer that de-risks a first order.
7 min readIs Wholesale Profitable for Small Brands? The Real Math
Wholesale at half your retail price can out-earn a DTC order once ads, shipping and returns come out. Here is the unit math, line by line.
7 min readA Separate Wholesale Store on Shopify: Worth It?
Running a second Shopify store for wholesale doubles the subscription and splits your stock. The three cases where it still makes sense, and the costs.
6 min readShopify Wholesale Store Setup: A Build in One Week
A working trade area on an existing Shopify store in five days: prices, case packs, minimums, gated access, terms and a test order that proves it.
7 min readThe Shopify Wholesale Channel Is Deprecated: Move Off It
The separate wholesale storefront is retired. A step-by-step migration for a brand with live stockists, in the order that keeps orders coming in.
7 min readShopify B2B vs Wholesale Channel: What Changed
The old Wholesale Channel ran a second storefront. Shopify B2B runs wholesale inside your main store. What that changes for prices, stock and logins.
7 min readShopify Draft Orders for Wholesale: The Manual Route
Draft orders let you build a trade order at the right prices and send an invoice link. Here is the workflow, its limits and when you outgrow it.
6 min readShopify Wholesale Password Page: Worth It or Not?
A shared password hides trade prices in about ten minutes, and it leaks. Here is when a password page is the right gate and what to use instead.
6 min readFaire First Order: What to Do the Day It Arrives
A first order from a wholesale marketplace is small, unexpected and worth more than the invoice. Here is how to ship it and turn it into an account.
8 min readFaire Brand Requirements: What to Have Before Applying
Curated wholesale marketplaces expect a finished product, workable pricing and usable photography. Here is the checklist to clear before you apply.
6 min readHow to Get Accepted on Faire: The Application in Practice
Acceptance on a curated wholesale marketplace turns on pricing, photography and proof that people already buy. Here is how to apply, and what to do if refused.
6 min readWholesale Marketplace Fees: The Full Cost of an Order
Commission is one of six places money leaves a marketplace order. Here is the full anatomy, how to compare platforms fairly, and the cost that matters.
6 min readWholesale Marketplace vs Your Own B2B Website
A marketplace finds retailers you do not have; your own B2B store keeps the ones you do. Here is how to run both and when to move an account across.
6 min readBest Wholesale Marketplaces for Brands: How to Choose
The best wholesale marketplace is the one whose retailers buy your category at your price. Here is a five-check method for picking between platforms.
6 min readMAP Policy for a Small Brand: Worth Writing?
A minimum advertised price policy protects the number your product is believed to be worth. Here is when a small brand needs one and how to enforce it.
6 min readTiered Wholesale Pricing Without Hurting Margin
Volume tiers should pay for themselves in production or handling, not in hope. Here is how a small brand builds a price ladder it can defend.
6 min readWholesale Shipping Cost: What Cases Really Cost
Cartons, dimensional weight, pallets and who pays. Here is how a DTC brand works out what shipping a wholesale order actually costs before quoting it.
6 min readFirst Order Minimum: Sizing the Opening Order
The opening order has to be big enough to merchandise and small enough to say yes to. Here is how a small brand finds that number and defends it.
6 min readWholesale Policy: The Rules a Brand Sells By
Who you will sell to, who you will not, and what every account gets. Here is how a small brand writes a wholesale policy it can actually hold to.
6 min readWholesale Terms and Conditions for Small Brands
The clauses that matter when an order goes wrong: title, damages, cancellation, late payment and resale. Here is what a small brand should write down.
7 min readHow to Get a Meeting With a Retail Buyer
Five routes to a retail buyer meeting, how to find the right name, when in their calendar to ask, and what to do when a meeting is never going to happen.
6 min readBuyer Meeting Tips: What Loses the Room
Buyer meeting tips from the failure side: the habits, phrases and small mistakes that turn a promising retail meeting into a polite no.
6 min readHow to Pitch to Retailers of Every Size
The pitch that wins an independent boutique will lose a regional chain. Here is how to pitch to retailers by type, from a one-room shop to a category buyer.
6 min readThe Retail Buyer Meeting: Prep, Agenda and Close
What to bring to a retail buyer meeting, how to run the thirty minutes, the questions that get asked, and how to leave with a decision rather than a maybe.
6 min readA Wholesale Pitch Template You Can Actually Reuse
A wholesale pitch template with fixed slots and one variable line, plus the versions for email, a direct message, a trade show and a walk-in.
6 min readCold Email Boutiques: Ten a Day, Done by Hand
Boutique outreach rewards small batches and real research. Here is the ten-a-day method, what to look for in each shop, and how to keep it going.
7 min readWholesale Cleaning Products: Your First Stockists
Freight decides this category. How a home care brand prices concentrates, tablets and refills, labels them properly, and wins refill and hardware accounts.
9 min readWholesale Kombucha: Selling Cases to Cafes and Co-ops
How a small kombucha brand moves from a Shopify store to wholesale cases: cold chain, case pricing, direct delivery, distributors and draft accounts.
7 min readHot Sauce Wholesale: Getting Onto Shop Shelves
Process authority, co-packing, the woozy bottle and the case of twelve. A practical playbook for a small-batch sauce brand selling wholesale.
8 min readSkincare Wholesale: How to Get Into Shops and Spas
What a boutique, an apothecary and a spa each want from a skincare brand: labelling, testers, back bar sizes, case packs and the first ten accounts.
8 min readWholesale Art Prints: A Guide for Illustrators
Paper, sleeves, frame sizes, editions and the margin. How an illustrator prices art prints for wholesale and finds the first shops that will stock them.
8 min readWholesale Supplements: The First Ten Doors to Knock
Supplement buyers ask about dating and certification before price. Here is how a DTC brand prices, labels and opens its first wholesale accounts.
8 min readCorporate Gifting for DTC Brands: How the Channel Works
Companies buy hundreds of units at once, on a purchase order, with a deadline. Here is who orders, what they ask for, and how to take the work on a Shopify store.
7 min readHow to Sell to Museum Shops as a Small Brand
Museum shops buy on mission fit, on a long exhibition calendar, and through purchase orders. Here is how the process works and what a small maker needs ready.
7 min readHow to Sell Wholesale to Gift Shops From Shopify
Gift shops buy on impulse price points and a long seasonal calendar. Here is what they stock, when they buy it, and how to sell to them from your own store.
6 min readHow to Sell to Farm and Ranch Stores as a Small Brand
Feed stores, co-ops and farm supply chains buy practical goods in deep cases. Here is who buys, what they expect on margin and packaging, and how to get in.
7 min readHow to Sell Wholesale to Boutiques From Shopify
Run boutique wholesale off the Shopify store you already have. Catalogues, minimums, terms and the ordering path a small shop will actually use twice.
7 min readHow to Sell Wholesale to Independent Pet Stores
Independent pet shops, groomers and vet clinics buy small cases and reorder fast. Here is the labelling bar, the terms and the way in from a Shopify store.
7 min readCase Pack Packaging: Designing the Box a Shop Opens
The case pack is the unit wholesale actually trades in. Here is how to choose the count, design the inner pack, and size the carton around it.
6 min readHow to Ship Wholesale Orders Without Losing a Day
A repeatable routine for turning a wholesale purchase order into a packed, labelled, invoiced shipment, and the checks that stop short deliveries.
6 min readShipping to Retailers: Freight, Carriers and Who Pays
Stores receive stock differently than customers do. Here is how parcel, freight and delivery terms work for a small brand shipping its first wholesale orders.
7 min readA 3PL for Wholesale Orders: Picking One That Does B2B
Most third-party warehouses are built for single parcels. Here is how a DTC brand finds one that can pick cases, build pallets and meet a routing guide.
6 min readWholesale Bookkeeping: A Monthly Routine That Works
Invoices, credit notes, remittances and an aging list. Here is the bookkeeping routine a DTC brand needs once shops start buying on terms.
6 min readWholesale Fulfillment on Shopify: The Practical Setup
How to run stockist orders through the Shopify admin you already use: locations, draft orders, holds, partial shipments and separate packing slips.
6 min readWholesale Customer Service: How to Keep Stockists Ordering
Serving shops is not serving shoppers. Here is how a DTC brand handles damages, backorders, credits and reorders so accounts keep buying for years.
7 min readWholesale Management Software: What a Small Brand Needs
Four jobs software does in wholesale: ordering, accounts, inventory and outreach. Here is what a DTC brand should buy, in what order, and what to keep manual.
7 min readWholesale Application Form: Approving Stores Without Losing Them
The application form is where you decide who gets your wholesale price. Here is how to vet a store, attach your terms and approve accounts in a day, not a week.
7 min readWholesale Marketing Strategy for a DTC Brand
Marketing to shops is push, pull and sell-through support. Here is how a Shopify brand builds a wholesale marketing plan it can run in four hours a week.
6 min readWholesale Samples: Who Pays, What to Send, and When
Samples close wholesale accounts and quietly drain a small brand. Here is a sample policy that converts buyers without turning your range into a giveaway.
7 min readTrade Show Checklist for a First-Time Wholesale Brand
Everything a small brand needs to do in the eight weeks before a wholesale trade show, on the floor, and in the two weeks after it ends.
6 min readSell Handmade Wholesale: From Etsy Listings to Shop Shelves
A step-by-step route from handmade listings to stocked shelves, in the order that works, with the timeline and the three places makers usually stall.
7 min readWholesale for Artists: Selling Work That Shops Can Reorder
Shops cannot reorder an original. Here is how an artist builds a wholesale range from reproductions, what galleries want instead, and where licensing fits.
7 min readHandmade Wholesale: Pricing Work That Pays for Your Hours
Half your retail price has to cover materials and your labour. Here is how to price handmade for wholesale, and what to do when the number does not work.
7 min readSmall Batch Wholesale: Home Production, Codes and Scale
Cottage food rules usually stop at the shop door. Here is what a home-based small batch producer needs before a store can stock them, and when to move out.
7 min readWholesale for Makers: Capacity, Consignment and First Orders
Can a one-person workshop supply shops? Here is how to test your capacity, choose between wholesale and consignment, and size a first order you can deliver.
7 min readArtisan Wholesale: Selling a Made-by-Hand Range to Shops
Artisan is a price tier, not an adjective. Here is what a buyer needs to see before they pay it, and which shops stock made-by-hand ranges at that level.
7 min read