AUSTRALIAN WHOLESALERS

Australian Wholesalers can be classified into 3 groups ranked by their overall contribution to the wholesale market.

Grade A – Top Level Wholesalers.

These companies and businesses are ranked at the top of the wholesale supplier’s chain as their primary goal is linking domestic or overseas manufacturers with local retailers. Usually occupying massive warehouses on the outskirts of major port cities and in some cases actually incorporating transport logistics into their business to minimise expenses.
These wholesalers are usually the hardest to establish a relationship with as they do not publicly advertise their services. Product exclusivity clauses prohibit a top level wholesaler to seek further distributors. In plain words, everybody would like to be selling IPods, video game consoles and products that are in their prime of popularity, the thing is these products are reserved for retailers that have a track record of being able to sell mass quantities of these units, while keeping the distributor market competitive. (These items may still be sourced from smaller Australian Sourcing businesses importing these goods from other regions, however in most cases; these goods do not hold Australian warranties, but rather the warranty obligations lay with these small importers).
By the time the wholesaler lands these goods on our shores, those goods are already pre-sold based on current trends, economic conditions and retail forecasting. A wholesaler simply cannot afford to import containers worth of merchandise and have it sitting in their warehouse for months until sold.
These businesses operate like well oiled machines, with no room for waste of resources, cost of labour, transport and warehousing costs. This is also why you will not find these companies by simply searching for them on the Internet. Most of these do not have websites and if they do, they do not feature specific products and pricing.

Grade B – Medium Level Wholesalers.

A medium level wholesaler is someone who imports small to medium quantities of products with the aim at reselling them in bulk. The operators of this kind of business source items that have no exclusivity clauses and are available for distribution by anyone. These sellers usually have websites that resell the goods at slightly lower than street value price to attract buyers. Their wholesale operation depends on moving larger quantities of goods at slightly lower than their own prices in order to lock in bulk orders. This usually means that they are keeping their suppliers, manufacturers happy, reducing their freight costs by ordering larger quantities and generating cash flow. These are companies like the now so popular OO.com.au who import large quantities of goods for resale through their website. OO have a bulk order link on their website, and even if some of the items are not available for bulk order, if you contact the sales team they will be able to provide you with wholesale bulk pricing on goods, even import the goods on your behalf providing that you prepay for your order. Before you go jump ahead to OO and order thousands of dollars worth of goods for resale, be prepared to be disappointed as the profit margins are still very minimal when you’re competing with a giant like your supplier who also engages in retailing. Our members section explains how to maximize your profits using mainstream importers.

Grade C – Low Level Wholesalers.

These businesses are really retailers who occasionally present their clients with an opportunity to buy up on heavily discounted products. This is usually a result of overstocking and it means that the wholesaler is finding it difficult to resell these items. In other words, the market is saturated with the product. Although it may seem like a bargain to grab a bulk lot of items, it’s not much good if you are unable to resell them. These wholesalers tend to also be very unreliable with constant supply of the same items. Low level wholesalers tend to import medium bulk orders for full retail profit, and are forced to clear the goods in order to keep up the cash flow.
The common conception is that Australian Wholesalers are hard to source. This is because people are led to believe that wholesalers that are responsible for supplying Australian retail giants such as Harvey Norman, Domaine, Dick Smith etc are able to supply to small time eBay traders and online shop owners. The reality is that Australia’s import/wholesale industry heavyweights are simply bound by legal contracts that prevent them to sell to everybody that’s willing to have a go at retailing.
Australian Wholesale Network receives between 20-40 Australian Wholesaler submissions per week, only about 30% of those are what we would consider worthwhile to our members. Our index features legitimate, verified Australian Wholesalers.

Stewart Gray – Australian Wholesale Affiliations Manager